THREAD: I spent last week collecting the stories of New Yorkers at the epicenter, telling the story of their horrendous COVID-19 epidemic in their own words for @WIRED's living oral history. I wanted to share some of their observations: wired.com/story/new-york…
1) Remember, first, the scale of what's about to unfold. This weekend, a New Yorker is dying every two minutes because of COVID-19. Every. Two Minutes. And the next two weeks will be worse. Single days may very well see a death toll equal or greater than 9/11.
2) An ER doctor told me: "At this point, everyone has the fucking disease. The really sick people are on one side, the moderately sick are on the other. Everyone is Covid positive, Covid positive."
3) NY Gov @andrewcuomo: "Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods—they happen, they are fast, they’re over, you start rebuilding. This is different. This is ongoing, and the duration itself is debilitating and exhausting and depressing." wired.com/story/new-york…
4) An ER doc: "The one thing that always comes to mind about this disease is how lonely it becomes. You see old people, young people, middle-aged people, just slowly wither away. There’s no family, there’s no one here to just sit by their side and hold their hand."
5) @ejdickson: "[9/11] was the strongest sense of community I’ve ever felt in New York. There’s no moment like that. No one can come together. We can’t hug each other. This feeling of collective grief is palpable.... People are terrified.... It’s a really dark time."
6) Brittney Gilbert: "It’s a strange day every day that you wake up. The city is normally so noisy. Lately, the only thing I can hear is sirens. It’s extremely quiet except for 24/7 ambulances, fire engines, and trucks."
7) @Laurie_Garrett:
8) Brittney Gilbert: "You see these moments in [our daughter's] pretend play that make clear she understands. She’ll be playing with her dolls and she’ll say, 'You’ve got to wash your hands or you’ll get sick.' ... You can tell that she’s definitely frustrated and noticing."
9) Laura Merrill, whose father died of COVID-19 last weekend: "I was hysterical. It just started sinking in: We can’t have a funeral. We can’t mourn as a family. I have to stay in my apartment. My stepmother has to stay in her apartment. We can’t grieve."
10) Laura Merrill: "It’s not a joke. Don’t go outside because you might pass it to someone like my dad.... My dad was healthy. He was joking around, texting the morning it all turned around. It might not affect everyone the same. It’s like playing Russian Roulette."
11) And it's going to get worse. @NYCMayor Bill de Blasio: "Next week is going to be a very difficult, intense week. We need to build out an additional number of 65,000 hospital beds in the City of New York by the end of April."
12) @AndrewCuomo: "I say to my fellow governors and elected officials all across this country: 'Look at us today, see yourself tomorrow.'" wired.com/story/new-york…
13) Michael Johnson: "I don’t really stress about the immediate—like what’s going to happen today or tomorrow. I’m lost, though, thinking about how we’re going to come out of this. I think there are going to be dramatic changes about how people approach society and life."
If you'd like to share your own story of COVID-19, what it's like in your community, how it's affecting your family, work, or life, please let me know: DM, email, or share your story at covid@wired.com. We're publishing a new chapter each Friday. /END wired.com/story/new-york…
