24. April 2020 – 20:27 Clock
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From Hanna Klouth
Exhausted, frustrated, at the end of their tether – New York’s hospital staff have been working to the limit for over a month. The situation has improved, especially in New York City, but it is still far from normal. That describes Dr. Nils Hennig – infection specialist at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. The highest level in the hospital was on April 9, with 2,200 Covid 19 patients. Currently there are 1,600 – the clinic only has 1,000 beds in normal operation.
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In the past few weeks, 1,400 patients have died under the hands of doctors
“The rest of the medical care is as good as discontinued, there are almost really only Covid 19 patients and emergencies – we are still very far from any normal case. And slowly what has been experienced in the last few days is sinking in have also lost 1,400 patients here since mid / early March, “says Dr. Hennig.
The situation is frustrating. “So the mood in the staff is like that,” explains Hennig, “that we have the feeling that we now have to pay for things because they didn’t react early enough elsewhere.”
The WHO has been warning for years that such a pandemic is possible. The National Security Council in the USA even issued a manual. Completed in 2016 after the Ebola pandemic. Described therein: exactly such a scenario and corresponding plans. But this handbook was not followed at the federal government level.
Doctor calls for more corona tests
There were also failures in New York State and in New York City when the first Corona case became known. “When we had the first case on March 1st, the mayor and the governor said that all contact persons should be tested and, if necessary, put in isolation and quarantine, and unfortunately that did not take place,” said Hennig. There was simply too little test.
And that is still the crucial problem. Because the prerequisite for being able to slowly return to a kind of normalcy are sufficient tests. “We should have the ability to test all people, isolate all positive ones, and quarantine all contacts.” So Hennig. “Here in New York we are still a long way from that and in other parts of the country, so far it is not so easy to assess from here, but I think unfortunately the worst is still to come.” The state of Georgia, for example, has already started to boost the economy again. Despite increasing infection and death rates.
The streets of New York are deserted because of the Corona crisis.
© imago images/ZUMA Wire, Sonia Moskowitz Gordon via www.imago-images.de, www.imago-images.de
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Patients are all alone in the hospital
It will be a while before the situation in New York’s hospitals normalizes. Until then, the doctors, nurses, carers will have to continue to push their limits and beyond.
The patients are isolated, are not allowed to have visitors and are alone in their beds. Often the doctors and nurses are so distracted with all the medical matters that there is hardly any time for other things. Because Mount Sinai is also a university, the students have volunteered to help out over the past few weeks. They talk to the patients, support them and give them iPads so that they can have a last word with their wives, husbands or children before they are intubated, for example. It’s easy to see, says Hennig, and it’s admirable.
TVNOW documentary: What we can learn from the crisis
The corona virus keeps Germany and the rest of the world in suspense. You can now find the new one on TVNOW Documentary “What we learn from the crisis”.
After the successful first part of the Documentary “Zero Hour” same the authors in the second TVNOW documentary “Zero Hour – Race with the Virus” the various measures of individual countries around the globe with the latest recommendations from researchers.
You can find more information in our podcast “We and Corona”.
You can find more videos on the subject of coronavirus here
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