Just one week and its a whole different world: An ER doctor who survived Ebola shares the new reality of treating the coronavirus in NYCLydia Ramsey Apr 3, 2020, 11:14 AM Dr. Craig Spencer. Spencer Platt/Getty Images On Twitter, Dr. Craig Spencer shared the evolving reality of his experience treating patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novelcoronavirus. The volume and severity of cases hitting the emergency room is new to the doctor, whos an emergency-room doctor at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Our ERs are ICUs, Spencer tweeted. Thats taking a toll on the staff at the hospital. Spencer noted that every day hes had colleagues calling him crying. Visit Business Insiders homepage for more stories.
Our new reality is unreal Dr. Craig Spencer wrote ina tweet Thursday night.The people and places weve known so long so well have been transformed. Our ERs are ICUs.
The reality is different than it was just a few days before.
Just one week and its a whole different world, he tweeted.
He thinks about that experience as he looks at the tents set up outside his hospital in upper Manhattan. The last time he worked in a tent was in West Africa, he tweeted.
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In those same tents, I saw too much pain, loneliness, and death. People dying alone. I never thought Id have to see or experience that ever again. I never wanted to. Once was painful enough, he tweeted. We have no other option now.
Inside the emergency room, the only patients hes seen have COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Working in the ER means walking through a corridor of coughing, he tweeted. All a slightly different pitch different frequency, but all caused by the exact same thing.
The volume isnt the only new normal hitting Spencer. Its also how severely ill the patients are, often in a state of respiratory arrest that requires being put on ventilators to help support breathing.
The patients I normally see are nowhere to be found. Every single person I see has #COVID19. Every single patient.
Working in the ER means walking through a corridor of coughing. All a slightly different pitch different frequency, but all caused by the exact same thing.
Theres also new challenges to the job, such as determining which patients might be stable enough to go home. Theres also heartbreaking interactions with families who over video chat have to make tough decisions about withdrawing care and saying goodbye to their loved ones. NYC hospitals arent allowing visitors to prevent the disease from spreading.
It takes a large emotional toll on the workers in the ER.
You cant help but cry. This isnt what we do, Spencer wrote.
Talk to palliative care. Talk to family members. Long discussions about likely outcomes. Listen as family members sob. They arent here to say goodbye when they ask to withdraw care. We FaceTime so they can say goodbye.
Already, he wrote, he can tell his colleagues are tired from the physically draining shifts. The mental exhaustion, he wrote, is starting to set in as well. He said hes had colleagues call him crying every day.
How long will they hold? How long will I hold? Spencer wrote.
I worry about my colleagues. Every day someone calls me crying. How long will they hold? How long will I hold?
I remember how this anxiety gnawed at me every day in Guinea in 2014. Was today the day I got infected? Wont know for a week. The days add up. The worry adds up.
Ive never seen my colleagues so afraid, so unsettled, Spencer tweeted. But Ive also never seen them all work so well together. Ive never seen us more unified, more focused, more sincere.
The worry is there that they dont have enough personal protective equipment as they need. The worry about lacking medications to care for patients is also there, Spencer said. Yes, we worry about each other. But Ive never seen so much sense of purpose. So much honor to do this job.
Its what he thinks about as he comes home from work, he said.
Clothes in a bag. Hot shower. Look in the mirror. Indentations of the goggles still deep on my face. Blisters on the bridge of my nose, he wrote.
Thecoronavirus pandemichas transformedeveryday life in hospitals around NYC.
Our new reality is unreal Dr. Craig Spencer wrote ina tweet Thursday night.The people and places weve known so long so well have been transformed. Our ERs are ICUs.
The reality is different than it was just a few days before.
Just one week and its a whole different world, he tweeted.
Spencers an emergency-room doctor and thedirectorof global health in Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.He has a unique perspective on the coronavirus pandemic, and hasshared what a day in the ER is like amid the pandemic before on Twitter.
ADVERTISINGAfter caring for patients with Ebola in Guinea in West Africa, he became New York Citysfirst and only Ebola patient in 2014.
He thinks about that experience as he looks at the tents set up outside his hospital in upper Manhattan. The last time he worked in a tent was in West Africa, he tweeted.
Never miss out on healthcare news.Subscribe to Dispensed, Business Insiders weekly newsletter on pharma, biotech, and healthcare.
In those same tents, I saw too much pain, loneliness, and death. People dying alone. I never thought Id have to see or experience that ever again. I never wanted to. Once was painful enough, he tweeted. We have no other option now.
Inside the emergency room, the only patients hes seen have COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Working in the ER means walking through a corridor of coughing, he tweeted. All a slightly different pitch different frequency, but all caused by the exact same thing.
Read more:A leaked presentation reveals the document US hospitals are using to prepare for a major coronavirus outbreak. It estimates 96 million US coronavirus cases and 480,000 deaths.
The volume isnt the only new normal hitting Spencer. Its also how severely ill the patients are, often in a state of respiratory arrest that requires being put on ventilators to help support breathing.
The patients I normally see are nowhere to be found. Every single person I see has #COVID19. Every single patient.
Working in the ER means walking through a corridor of coughing. All a slightly different pitch different frequency, but all caused by the exact same thing.
Its not just the volume of patients thats hitting us. Its the severity.
5,582 8:09 PM - Apr 2, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 1,276 people are talking about thisRespiratory arrest.
Respiratory arrest.
Respiratory arrest.
Each takes 6-8 professionals. Nurses, respiratory techs, ER docs, anesthesiologists. Each takes an hour or more.
Back to back. All shift.
Theres also new challenges to the job, such as determining which patients might be stable enough to go home. Theres also heartbreaking interactions with families who over video chat have to make tough decisions about withdrawing care and saying goodbye to their loved ones. NYC hospitals arent allowing visitors to prevent the disease from spreading.
It takes a large emotional toll on the workers in the ER.
You cant help but cry. This isnt what we do, Spencer wrote.
Talk to palliative care. Talk to family members. Long discussions about likely outcomes. Listen as family members sob. They arent here to say goodbye when they ask to withdraw care. We FaceTime so they can say goodbye.
We stop the drips.
Turn off the ventilator.
And wait.
Your hands upon theirs.
5,369 8:09 PM - Apr 2, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 937 people are talking about thisYou think of their family. At home. Sobbing.
Someone starts saying a prayer.
You cant help but cry.
This isnt what we do.
You stand by. You wait.
This isnt what we do.
You stand by. You wait.
Time of death: 7:19pm
Already, he wrote, he can tell his colleagues are tired from the physically draining shifts. The mental exhaustion, he wrote, is starting to set in as well. He said hes had colleagues call him crying every day.
How long will they hold? How long will I hold? Spencer wrote.
I see it on my colleagues face. We are tired. We are physically exhausted.
Hours in goggles, gowns and masks feel like days.
But we are only at the beginning.
The mental exhaustion is only starting to set in. The things we do, the things we see. This isnt what we do.
I worry about my colleagues. Every day someone calls me crying. How long will they hold? How long will I hold?
4,185 8:09 PM - Apr 2, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 508 people are talking about thisI remember how this anxiety gnawed at me every day in Guinea in 2014. Was today the day I got infected? Wont know for a week. The days add up. The worry adds up.
Being on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic puts healthcare workers at even greater risk of contracting the virus.Many have already fallen ill, and some told Business Insider they arent being tested.
Ive never seen my colleagues so afraid, so unsettled, Spencer tweeted. But Ive also never seen them all work so well together. Ive never seen us more unified, more focused, more sincere.
The worry is there that they dont have enough personal protective equipment as they need. The worry about lacking medications to care for patients is also there, Spencer said. Yes, we worry about each other. But Ive never seen so much sense of purpose. So much honor to do this job.
Its what he thinks about as he comes home from work, he said.
Clothes in a bag. Hot shower. Look in the mirror. Indentations of the goggles still deep on my face. Blisters on the bridge of my nose, he wrote.
How long will we hold?
https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-an-nyc-er-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-4?nr_email_referer=1utm_source=Sailthruutm_medium=emailutm_content=Business_Insider_selectpt=385758ct=Sailthru_BI_Newslettersmt=8utm_campaign=Business%20Insider%20Select%202020-04-04utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select
损失的是民众的利益，看看接下来的经济。。。
确诊人数没增多少，八九成最坏的过去了。
在LA, 希望美国能平稳渡过。
太难为我了一点，有一次要求画甘地....
各州采购口罩是CDC统一安排还是各州的卫生部门自行安排？采购渠道有限制吗？
马来西亚三月初复工，结果大约两周前发现又有爆发，现在整个国家隔离企业停摆，越南本周也宣布再次爆发企业停摆。
还反过来教育我戴口罩没必要。嫌我过度紧张有一段时间不跟我对话。结果美国的防线无力局势势如破竹，现在的每一步都在重复中国的做法。全国步调不一致，停摆时间势必要比中国长，死的人比中国多，才能抑制疫情。后面还有一堆麻烦呢。为什么不早点动手山寨中国的做法？这次美国要为它的傲慢与偏见付出很大代价。
今天Gilead的CEO说他们要ramp up production of their drug. 五月底出150k treatment course for free. 所以越拖越有利…… 半年以后也许就有药了。
给女儿短信，让她看国内的惨状，每天数字的暴增，提醒她戴口罩，勤洗手，那时她跟我说她会勤洗手，但不会戴口罩，因为周围没有人戴，人家远在天边，我也鞭长莫及，后来美国禁航，美国开始发现疫情，她跟我说这就和流感差不多，年轻人得了也不会很严重，调调和CDC 一模一样，我心急啊，寄给她的增强抵抗力的维生素冲剂，口罩，hand sanitizer 等这些她也不那么认真对待，给她看意大利，韩国的疫情，也仿佛自己置身于世外桃源之中，直到后来旧金山进入紧急状态了，开始意识到严重性，跟她说不能信CDC，她回我这是一种新病毒，大家对此的认知有一个过程，气得我差点没晕过去 ：） 今天好了，下午看到Sherry的新鲜蔬菜，跟她说我要不出去买菜？她劝我不要出去，就家里吃荤菜好了 ：）
还有做饭工作量翻倍，村姑才尽。。。
如果你没有病，不要戴口罩。戴口罩对现在瘟疫，没有好处，只有坏处。 [子女教育] - noworry(1491 bytes ) 2020-03-30
阵子大家的心理压力也蛮大的，多自我调节 ：）
我在想他们应该比我们更清楚这疫情带来的不单单是疫病和恐慌，经济上的巨大损失，随之带来的还有社会的动荡和不安全。。。
到人工智能统治人，都一套一套的。
这个病毒的数据模型说起来也是一套一套的，而且可能1984这么的书读多了，他对政府的态度绝对就是necessary evil 的，
总是怀疑态度。
所以我们家是反过来，我们得宽慰他，不要太紧张。
他觉得他得去超市买东西，我们太老了，太危险了。
碰上这么一款孩子也是非常愁人。
还记得你们家小儿子那双迷人的电眼 还要做演员吗？ LOL
我看看哪天他俩心情好的时候，我能不能骗着一人头上绑个小揪揪，拍了片片上来晒。
按UW 的模型，NY 4/14 左右到顶，CA 要4/24 左右到顶。不过CA 的峰值远比NY 小。一定要坚持到四月底，能不外出就不出门