Nurses, surgeons, janitors: the first US health workers to die from Covid-19
The Guardian co-published with Kaiser Health News.
By Sarah Varney, Melissa Bailey, Danielle Renwick, Christine Jewett
Wed 15 Apr 2020 05.00 EDT
America’s healthcare workers are dying. In some states, medical staff account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. From doctors to hospital cleaners and from nursing home aides to paramedics, those most at risk have already helped save thousands of lives.
Not all these medical professionals survive their encounters with patients. Hospitals are overwhelmed, workers lack protective equipment and some staff suffer from underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable to this pernicious virus.
Health authorities in the US have no consistent way of tallying the deaths of healthcare workers. As of 14 April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 27 deaths among health workers – but our reporting shows that is likely a vast undercount.
Dr J Ronald Verrier spent the final weeks of his life tending to a torrent of patients infected with Covid-19. Workers at St Barnabas hospital(Bronx NYC) struggled to find masks and gowns as staff set up makeshift morgues in the parking lot. (Many nurses continue to make cloth masks.) Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Verrier emigrated to the United States and had worked at St Barnabas for the last two decades, overseeing the general surgery residency program.A towering presence with a wide, dimpled smile, Verrier was a natural mentor who was known to drop into patients’ rooms for impromptu birthday parties.
Much More here to read.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/15/nurses-surgeons-janitors-first-us-health-workers-to-die-covid-19?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground. The brave, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."