NEW YORK -- The first of many calls that night involved a 24-year-old man who had a fever, body aches and a cough that sounded like a cement mixer.While the Brooklyn paramedics took the man's fever -- 103 degrees -- they noticed frightening vitals that hinted at the coronavirus: a critically low
NEW YORK — The first of many calls that night involved a 24-year-old man who had a fever, body aches and a cough that sounded like a cement mixer.
Even as hospitals across New York become inundated with coronavirus cases, some patients are being left behind in their homes because the health care system cannot handle them all, according to dozens of interviews with paramedics, New York Fire Department officials and union representatives, as well as city data.
The paramedics described grim scenes as New York City has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, with more than 30,000 cases as of Saturday, and 672 deaths. “It does not matter where you are. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. This virus is treating everyone equally,” the Brooklyn paramedic said.
“The department is carefully managing and monitoring usage of personal protective equipment and critical supplies to ensure we have what’s needed for this long-term operation,” Dwyer said. “We’re getting them at the point where they’re starting to decompensate,” said the Brooklyn paramedic, who is employed by the Fire Department. “The way that it wreaks havoc in the body is almost flying in the face of everything that we know.”
Neither the city, the State Department of Health or the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued strict rules as to how paramedics should respond to a coronavirus call. In recent days, Fire Department policy — which applies to all ambulance crews in the 911 system — has given more latitude to paramedics to make decisions on how to handle patients they believe have the virus.
Like doctors and nurses, many paramedics fear they are already infected and have brought the virus home to their families. On March 18, three members of the Fire Department tested positive for the virus. By Friday, 206 members had positive results.
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