NYC Hospital Worker Battles Coronavirus
New York has been hit harder with COVID-19 than most other places. In fact, the New York Times described New York City as “the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States.” On April 8, 2020, Governor Cuomo announced that there had been 779 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest total for one day so far. (1)
NYC hospital workers are heroically putting themselves at risk to save their fellow New Yorkers. One even contracted coronavirus, recovered from it, and immediately went back to work. (2)
Raeburn Fairweather is a 47-year-old respiratory therapist. The Jamaica native works at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. One part of his job is inserting and removing ventilator tubes from COVID-19 patients’ tracheas. (2)
Fairweather told the New York Post that early on, the staff at his hospital didn’t treat the coronavirus epidemic seriously. “I’m going to be honest with you, the staff was still somewhat laid back about it,” he said. And with “the ones that were not suspected, we did not wear protective gear.” (2)
Fairweather worked a triple shift at his NYC hospital on March 17, 2020. He started showing symptoms of coronavirus not long after. He got tested for the virus on March 18, a Wednesday, and received confirmation that his test results were positive the following Monday. (2)
Self-Quarantining for COVID-19
For two weeks, Fairweather self-quarantined in a spare bedroom at his home in Canarsie, a Brooklyn neighborhood. The respiratory therapist has five children, although four are adults. He also had a bathroom to himself so that his wife and 11-year-old son wouldn’t get sick. (2)
Fairweather described his experience with coronavirus to the New York Post, saying that his fever got up to 104 degrees. “The Tylenol would not bring it down. My body felt like it was falling apart,” he said. “Headaches were immense. They were making my eyeballs feel like they were on springs.” (2)
Additionally, he lost his senses of taste and smell, and he started coughing up “thick, white mucus during Day Three — and that carried on until Thursday of last week,” Fairweather said in an interview with the New York Post. (2)
Fairweather warned that your body has to be strong to overcome the virus. “If your body cannot fight, you will not make it,” he said to the New York Post. “It wears your body down.” (2)
While fighting coronavirus, Fairweather treated himself with Tylenol, as well as Caribbean home remedies made from ginger, turmeric, and garlic. His wife and son have not shown any COVID-19 symptoms. (2)
Respiratory Therapist Goes Back to Work After Coronavirus
After two weeks of self-quarantine, Fairweather was tested for COVID-19 again. His results came back negative. Because he hadn’t had a fever for three days, he was able to return to work the same day. (2)
Eileen Tynion, a spokesperson for Maimonides Medical Center, told the New York Post that the hospital’s policy allows workers who have recovered from COVID-19 to return to work. But they are required to be fever-free for four days in a row. (2)
NYC Hospitals Overwhelmed by Coronavirus Patients
As Fairweather gets back to work, hospitals in New York City are overwhelmed by coronavirus patients. Other than the United States as a whole, New York has more confirmed cases than any country in the world. Almost all of these cases are in New York City and its suburbs, and more than 5,000 people in the state have died from COVID-19. (1)
With public hospitals struggling to care for patients, Mayor de Blasio promised to support them with personnel, ventilators, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Public hospitals in New York City serve people from low-income neighborhoods, who have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. (1)
“This is about the most essential concept of ensuring that everyone gets health care regardless of their background, regardless of their ZIP code, regardless of their income,” Mayor de Blasio said, as reported by the New York Times. (1)
While death tolls have been high, the curve for new hospitalizations seems to be flattening. From Tuesday, April 7 to Wednesday, there was an increase of 3% for new coronavirus patients. In previous weeks, 25% increases were common. (1)
The New York Times quoted Governor Cuomo as saying, “We are flattening the curve, thank God, thank God, thank God.” (1) So please, everyone, stay home!
