Duc Nguyen speaks to his wife during the New Year from a unit at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, USA, January 1, 2021. REUTERS / Callaghan O’Hare reuters_tickers
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–This content was published on 01 January 2021 – 13:50
01 January 2021 – 13:50
By Callaghan O’Hare and Nathan Layne
HOUSTON, Jan 1 (Reuters) – Shortly after midnight, Duc Nguyen sat on his hospital bed for a video call with his wife. The glare from a television and a streetlight outside her window provided the only light in the room while a nasal cannula delivered oxygen to her lungs.
This was not how the 33-year-old had envisioned welcoming him into the new year, but said he was grateful that the United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) in Houston had an empty bed so he could be treated for pneumonia caused by the COVID-19.
Nguyen said he was confident he would recover, but predicted that the worst days of the pandemic were yet to come.
“We still have another gift for us next year,” he said huskily. “It’s not over yet”.
Similar scenes were seen across the country as a surge in infections after Thanksgiving added to the number of patients admitted for a virus that has claimed more than 342,000 lives in the United States.
Located in a working-class area of north Houston, the UMMC has been hit hard by the waves of cases that hit Texas during the summer and fall, placing an immense physical and emotional toll on nurses like Tanna Ingraham, who surpassed two episodes of COVID-19.
In normal times, Ingraham could have spent the New Year hanging out with friends. Instead, he was still dealing with the sudden death this week of a patient who had just been removed from a ventilator amid signs that she was improving.
Like her, the patient was 43 years old, and Ingraham held back tears as he removed the tubes from her body and placed her in a body bag, a task she has become used to this year. For Ingraham, widespread vaccination won’t come soon enough.
“I just hope that at the end of this there is a light because, honestly, that’s the only thing that keeps me going. That and my faith,” he said. “So, 2021 I’m ready.”
This week, Reuters accompanied doctors and nurses as they toured UMMC’s COVID-19 unit, stopping to check vital signs and occasionally offering a hug. Touch, Ingraham said, who had learned from his own battles with the disease, is critical to avoiding a sense of despair.
TENSE ATMOSPHERE
A handmade sign marks the number of days – 287 – that staff have been working since the pandemic hit Texas in the Northern Hemisphere spring. Mexican and American flags hang on the walls, a nod to the many medical students from Mexico who have come to help and learn.
A Christmas tree and Christmas decorations make up for a tense atmosphere amid concerns of an impending surge in cases.
On Thursday, Texas set a new record for COVID-19 hospitalizations, with 12,268 patients in hospitals across the state, surpassing a previous peak in July, according to data from the Texas Department of Health.
A University of Washington team whose model has been used by the White House projects that state hospitalizations will peak on January 9.
Dr. David Persse, the health authority for the Houston Department of Health, is concerned that infections will accelerate in January and February as cases stemming from the Christmas and New Year celebrations materialize. Another concern is the possible spread of a highly contagious variant of coronavirus discovered in the UK, he said.
“It’s a huge concern,” Persse said. “We are all preparing to see if that happens.”
(Additional reporting by Callaghan O’Hare in Houston; Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Edited in Spanish by Gabriela Donoso)
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