United States – TESTIMONY. Coronavirus: hospital doctor in New York, he prepares for the worst

In New York (United States), with the acceleration of hospitalizations and an almost capacity establishment, Dr. Shamit Patel is preparing for the worst in the coming days, while hoping that he will not have to choose between patients with coronavirus.

Just ten days ago, only half of the patients seen by this 46-year-old in-house doctor at Beth Israel, one of the hospitals in the Mount Sinai group in Manhattan, had Covid-19.

Last week, the proportion rose to three quarters, and is now around 85 to 90%.

We stopped seeing ordinary patients, he said in a videoconference interview. So the hospital is full of coronavirus patients.

We have more patients than our ordinary capacity, he announces. But we had already increased the number of beds in anticipation.

> Follow our live report for Tuesday, March 31, on the coronavirus pandemic

The wave at the facility he works in is similar to that in New York City, which has grown from 463 cases diagnosed two weeks ago to more than 36,000 on Monday.

At the rate that I observe, explains the doctor, the peak could happen at the end of the week or next week.

Under pressure for two weeks already, Shamit Patel is now preparing for the worst, even if this is something we hope not to see.

The worst part is a situation comparable to that of certain regions of Italy, where the health system is unable to take care of all its patients.

We will have to be a little faster to examine each patient and define the treatment, he predicts. We might have to see double or triple the number we usually see.

But, he worries, you can’t really go beyond triple and deal effectively.

“See my family again”

In addition to the limitations of the nursing staff, Shamit Patel is just as worried about a possible insufficiency of equipment, in particular the artificial respirators, of which the governor of the state Andrew Cuomo and the mayor of New York Bill de Blasio .

If there is an influx and you only have a limited number of respirators, you cannot ventilate everyone, describes the doctor. And from there you have to choose.

There is a lot of uncertainty and anxiety, but there is not much I can do about itsays Peter Liang, a gastroenterologist who has been redeployed to treat Covid-19 patients.

So I try to focus on what I controlhe said. Caring for my patients, supporting my colleagues and taking care of myself so that I can see my family every night.

It’s hard to know that each morning may be the last time I see my wife and two month old baby for several dayssays this doctor at Manhattan Veterans Hospital, who knows himself high risk to contract the disease.

Shamit Patel, too, has a hard time coping with his 80-year-old father, who has Parkinson’s disease, and his aunt, who has cancer.

I do not want to transmit to them (the virus), he confides. Because I don’t think they would do well.

He therefore respects the minimum regulatory distance of two meters and does not skimp on the wipes, while ensuring that his two elders have sufficient food reserves.

I stay in my room almost all the time, and from time to time I check that they are fine.

In the hospital or at home, stress and anxiety are always present for these personnel engaged, as repeated by Governor Cuomo, in a marathon.

Peter Liang was on the eighth day of a nine-day streak Monday, 12 hours a day.

If it goes up, but then it goes back down, we could last for a while, anticipates Shamit Patel. But for months, it’s hard to hold on.

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