Thread by @benrileysmith

**THREAD**

To see what’s really happening in New York hospitals battling Covid-19 we’ve talked to 10 frontline workers.

Their stories reveal stark equipment shortages, fears for their safety and an unimaginable scale of death.

Summary posted below...

telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/0…

The context - New York City is the epicentre of the US outbreak right now (and arguably the world)

45,707 coronavirus cases
1,374 deaths
Both jumping up each day.

That’s roughly 1 in 20 of the worldwide total or 1 in 5 of US total.

For the last few days myself, @Josiensor, @RozinaSabur and @h_alexander have been contacting those who are seeing it first hand.

Workers in intensive care units, ER and ambulances agreed to talk. Nurses, doctors, people drafted in from other roles. Multiple hospitals.

Most didn’t want to go on record - there is widespread fear of being sacked if they talk to the media.

But one who did was Scheena Iyande Tannis. She’s a 40-year-old critical care nurse working in Brooklyn (and, undeniably, a hero).

When I talked to Sheena yesterday she’d just finished a 17hr night shift. Her feet were swollen and she was exhausted.

“I am emotionally spent,” she said. “I don’t think I can produce the words… You have no idea what is happening inside hospitals.”

At the place she works - Brookdale Hospital - staff have begun arranging FaceTime calls when a Covid-19 patient is fading.

Loved ones aren’t allowed in to see their relative just before they pass for fear of infection. It’s this more than anything else Sheena thinks about.

The most frequent problem we heard, which will surprise no one, is PPE shortages. Gowns, masks, ventilators.

White House keeps insisting there are enough. But for whatever reason (delays getting to right hands, distribution issues, failures in supply) there are big issues.

Take N95 masks (the ones that form a tight vacuum over mouth and nose rather than just cover them)

People told us normally they throw them after 1 use. Now some use a mask for a full week, risking infection

(In one ward they’re kept in brown paper bags w/ names on overnight)

Or ventilators. Some NY hospitals say they would never use more than one person on them. Now 2 or even 3 patients are put on the same one.

3000+ estimated to be needed over the next week. 3 thousand! “I wouldn’t be surprised if we run out of ventilators soon” said a nurse.

We talked to a nurse at the hospital where this viral pic was taken - black bin bags for gowns.

Hospital said they had proper protective gear on underneath.

Nurse said fears of shortages were real: “We are paranoid. I don’t know what we have to do or say so they believe us.”

Intense pressure is being placed on every step of the hospital process - beginning, middle and end.

Take the beginning...

There are now 6,500+ medical emergency calls to 911 every day.

That is a third up, to levels not seen since September 11 attacks.

Yet 20% of workforce is off sick, three times higher than normal. Many with covid symptoms.

That means longer ambulance waiting times.

Michael Greco is a paramedic in Queens.

“In my 13 years I’ve never seen anything close to this.

“We've gone through blizzards, we’ve gone through a micro-tornado, we’ve had Hurricane Sandy.

“Those, while all major operations, were time-stamped. This has now been 2 weeks.”

In hospitals the issues continue. Take the surge in beds.

All hospitals have been asked to increase bed capacity by at least 50%.

Everything from Wall St high-rises and Manhatten hotels to US Open tennis centre are being converted.

This is good! But...

... there has not been a similar rise in staffing. So medics unbelievably stretched and gaps being filled by people with little experience.

One pediatric nurse now redeployed explained the problem - the unfamiliarity. “It’s really bad”.

And then there’s the end. This is v v grim so apologies but is the reality.

New York City morgues normally hold 800-900 bodies. They have forced up capacity to 3,500+.

45 refrigerated trucks deployed to hospitals to store the dead. (Plus some of the 85 going to NY state)

NYC official said they are trying hardest to “treat these people with respect and dignity”.

A nurse’s perspective...

“When their families ask if they can see them, it’s impossible to tell them where they are. No one wants to think of their loved ones being in a freezer truck.”

Lastly, there’s the safety of the frontline workers themselves.

They’re terrified of contracting the virus and bringing it home

One said work was like “going into a war without any armour”

Another - “like walking into a burning building just knowing you’re going to get burned”

Here is just one example of the many steps taken to avoid infecting the family.

(Some are choosing instead to sleep at work and not go home.)

There are so many other quotes we could tweet from our conversations.

“It’s like a war zone”

“People are dying, just dying left and right”

“Each day I just hope we see fewer deaths than the last”.

These nurses are genuinely shocked by what they’re seeing. And worried.

Most concerning - the worst is yet to come. Cases will only keep soaring up for the next fortnight (at a minimum).

New York’s mayor @NYCMayor has put out an urgent call for 3.3m N95 masks, 1000k nurses, 150 doctors by Sunday. Three days left.

Will leave the last word to Scheena.

She was furious people were still walking the city, seemingly not obeying the lockdown.

“I implore you,” she said. “People need to understand - stay at home.”

For a full breakdown of what we found a 1,400word piece is here
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/0…

To read a first-person account of a NY doctor who talked to @Josiensor click here.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/0…

(End)