I live in NYC and three of my friends are doctors working in nearby hospitals. One friend is a technical admin at a research facility, one friend lives blocks away from one of the hardest hit hospitals in Queens, and my brother works for a large healthcare organization in billing.
Doctors with specializations are being pulled from their specialties to help in almost any way they can because everyone is overworked, under slept, and there are too many patients. Psychiatrists are being asked to help in the ICU, etc.
A large amount of hospital staff have been infected or suspected of infection, so there are numerous on leave until recovery or until they need hospitalization.
All of the hospitals have converted nearly every floor and room available into additional bed space. Cafeterias, waiting rooms, administration areas, etc are all now being used as space for COVID-19 patients.
My friend who works at a research facility has been helping to make meeting rooms into space for patients because even with the conversions of other space, the hospitals nearby are at or near capacity.
As of last month my nearest hospital has had to send overflow patients one county over, and then that overflow hospital reached capacity and had to send their patients another county over. There are makeshift morgues being set up in parking lots because the regular hospital morgues are overflowing.
Earlier this week the mother of someone I was friendly with in high school was put into intensive care. Despite the best efforts of a highly regarded hospital, this morning she died of complications from COVID-19. To prevent the spread of infection, her family was not able to visit. They won't be able to have a funeral in person until all of this is over.
I share this because I care for them all these people very deeply. I don't know how it is in the rest of the world, but if it seems like nothing much is happening, good. That's the point.
Minimize the spread before it gets to where we are in NYC.
Thank you and many well wishes to Matthew Danziger. He has asked us to support New York Cares if you are able https://www.newyorkcares.org/
The photos with this post are from the following sources:
Times Square New York March 19th
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/23/world/coronavirus-great-empty.html
NYC public cemetery on Hart Island in the Bronx
https://newrepublic.com/article/157239/new-york-city-coronavirus-death-toll-photo-essay
A refrigerated truck used as a makeshift morgue outside the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn
https://newrepublic.com/article/157239/new-york-city-coronavirus-death-toll-photo-essay
