New York City-area paramedic describes coronavirus situation
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Link to video
Stolen from a blog:
“An average day in the New York City 911 system you will see around 3,000 to 4,300 assignments or calls a day throughout all of the five boroughs,” Mena said. He continued, “The busiest day of the year usually is New Year’s Eve where we’ll see about 5,000 assignments. Since about last Tuesday we have been breaking our records.
“We have done more calls last Tuesday than we did on 9/11.” He goes on to say the current average is about 7,000 calls a day, roughly double the normal volume.
Describing what he sees at area hospitals, Mena said, “It’s pretty terrifying.” One of the things that scares him is that he sees people of all age groups who are critically ill, including people in their 30s. “It’s never ending. It’s an onslaught, wave after wave. It’s a miracle that we’re holding out this well,” he said.
Asked what the scariest thing he’d seen was, Mena thought of people who were barely able to breath: “These are folks with no serious past medical history, just flu symptoms, having oxygen saturation in the 70s, in the 60 percent. They are barely conscious using every aspect of their physical being to get a breath in…It’s horrifying.”