WaPo's Josh Dawsey: When an emergency room suspected I had coronavirus, things got serious fast

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/when-an-emergency-room-suspected-i-had-coronavirus-things-got-serious-fast/2020/03/07/b7a75e18-60a1-11ea-8baf-519cedb6ccd9_story.html

By Josh Dawsey
White House reporter

March 7, 2020 at 3:11 p.m. EST

The snaking check-in line at the emergency room last Friday and the scores of sickly patients seeking comfort in the spartan lobby presaged a long, dreadful morning.

Then something worse happened: I was taken back immediately, ahead of everyone on the gurneys, in the wheelchairs, on the floor and even those who appeared passed out in the chairs. No insurance papers were needed. “Mr. Dawsey, please come this way.”

After I was whooshed into a private, Manhattan-studio-size room at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, nurses in heavy-duty hazmat-like suits and masks suddenly surrounded me, inserting an intravenous needle, checking my heart and pulse, examining my organs and writing measurements on charts. New masks were changed. One doctor stood at least 10 feet away from me, his back against the wall, as he talked to me.

It suddenly dawned on me, though no one had said it. They thought I had coronavirus.

“Patient Zero,” one emergency room doctor said to a skeptical nurse outside my private ER room, urging her to put on a heavy-duty mask, according to Kate Sullivan, a friend who bravely, or maybe insanely, spent the day with me, wearing a chic, heavy-duty mask of her own.

By that time, I had been sick for five days with flu-like symptoms, and I eventually acquiesced to visit an urgent care center after being urged by essentially . . . well, everyone I knew.

</snip>

It wasn't coronavirus, per testing, but the article gives a little insight on how hospitals are handling it when patients come in with flu-like symptoms.

[elleng]

1. WOW, Washington Hospital Center!

[pat_k]

2. What about calling first to warn them?

Why the heck was he in line??

You'd think a DC reporter for WaPo would be up on recommendations and the news.

[hedda_foil]

4. Urgent care called them. That's how they knew to isolate him immediately.

[pat_k]

5. But he showed up at urgent care without warning them?

I still find it mystifying that, given his symptoms, the current situation, warnings, recommendations, and reporting that it only "suddenly dawned on" him that the facility he decided to go to would want to take some serious precautions only AFTER they initiated those precautions.

What about having some concern about exposing the sick people -- vulnerable people -- at the urgent care facility?

[PJMcK]

6. Blaming the patient?

Do you think that clearly when you're sick and feverish?

Anyway, I appreciate that you're thinking of the greater good. I hope I'll have the same prescience should I get sick.

[pat_k]

10. No, I'm questioning the judgement of a person...

... I would expect to be particularly well-informed on the national, state, and local guidance being issued.

I've seen numerous statements from health departments and hospitals like this one:

"PCDOH is educating the community on the importance of calling before arriving at the doctor, emergency room or urgent care if you suspect you may need medical attention related to exposure to the Coronavirus (COVID-19"

I would never blame a person who would understandably be "out of the loop" (tragically, here in Seattle, an informal survey at a homeless camp revealed that a surprising number hadn't even heard of coronavirus). Mr. Dawsey is far from "out of the loop." I would expect him to be high on the list of the informed.

[rustydog]

8. When you enter the facility, you don a mask.

you have greatly reduced the chances of spreading the virus. If you cough and don't have a mask, cough into your elbow.
wash your hands with soap and water routinely for 20 seconds.

Our facilities have signage at entry points describing flu-like conditions and asks people displaying those signs to don a mask placed with the sign and a bottle of hand sanitizer and tissue paper right there.

[pat_k]

9. Good to hear.

I think I would still call first to make sure I get any special instructions before showing up.

[dewsgirl]

3. Sounds scary, I imagine it was.

[rustydog]

7. It wasn't just the flu-like symptoms... it is called triaging patients

You take in the most serious cases first. Coronavirus being communicable and you sitting in a waiting room with several people raises the risk of exposure to unnecessary people. Someone with a sprained wrist needs to be seen, but your suspected condition was more serious and therefore, you went to the head of the line.