I spent 2 days in the "hot zone" in New York hospitals, witnessing needless death and heartache, and heroic, shattered health workers. One doctor spends her days treating patients, holding their hands--then goes home and cries. Her message: "Stay home." https://nyti.ms/3a1GATB 

It has been very hard to get access to hospitals, and so many people don't understand how cruel the virus is, how terrible it is to be struggling for breath alone in an overcrowded ER. So we owe special thanks to the two hard-hit hospitals who let me in with a video journalist.

What strikes you in the hospitals is the wretchedness: Patients are feverish, aching, struggling for breath and all alone. Doctors often wear tinted ski masks so you can't see their eyes. Treatments don't really work. Intubation mostly fails. It's brutal.

It was the doctors, nurses, PAs who moved me the most. They are frightened; they see colleagues sick, even in the ICU, yet they soldier on, not knowing if their PPE is enough. They are responding by doing their utmost, even as the president and public often let them down.

High tech interventions aren't working well against Covid. Most people put on ventilators still die. The intervention that struck me the most was low tech: health workers holding hands of frightened patients, asserting their common humanity against a fearsome foe.

So if you're tempted to hold a big Easter dinner, to go out for a soccer game--if Covid seems distant, if you feel invincible--then please read this piece and watch the video, and heed the anguished message of courageous, frightened doctors: "Stay home" http://nyti.ms/3a1GATB 

Our #COVID19 video and article were a team effort, so thanks to the doctors, nurses and other hospital staff who took us in. And all credit to the video team: @aellick, @AStocktonFilms, @zachgoldbaum, @eholzknecht, @chaidingari & @mikirby, shown here shooting the video.