While video of a forklift hoisting a body into a refrigerated trailer outside a Brooklyn hospital was being widely shared last week, inside, doctors were racing between patients — including some of their own colleagues — to keep them breathing. https://nyti.ms/2JR6ChL ">https://nyti.ms/2JR6ChL&q...

. @sherifink reported this story with @victorjblue from inside a temporary ICU at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, where coronavirus deaths grew fivefold in the past week.
https://nyti.ms/2JR6ChL ">https://nyti.ms/2JR6ChL&q... https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1246571094930264066">https://twitter.com/nytimes/s...

The previous night at the Brooklyn Hospital Center had been bad. Patient after patient had to be intubated so a ventilator could breathe for them. At one point, 3 “codes” — emergency interventions when someone is on the brink of death — happened at once.

The next day, medical residents presented their cases during the ICU& #39;s morning report in shorthand, at auctioneer-like speed. There were many patients to get through.

Over the course of a day, the doctors treated one of their own residents and the mother of a beloved colleague. They treated pregnant women, some of whom wouldn& #39;t be conscious when their babies were delivered to increase their odds of surviving to raise their children.

Some of the ICU patients are in their 80s; others in their 30s. Some have asthma or diabetes, but others seemed to have no risk factors at all.

The message from the overwhelmed staff remains the same: "Stay home. Protect yourself." https://nyti.ms/2JR6ChL ">https://nyti.ms/2JR6ChL&q...