Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live

by Nicholas A. Christakis MD PhD

The health-care system strained under the load, and very worrisome reports reached me from my medical friends in the city. They described the situation as “gruesome” and “unreal” with the incessant arrival of very sick patients, and the ICUs bursting. It was like “a refugee camp in a war zone,” one nurse observed.117 Working conditions were extremely difficult, requiring providers to be in layers of protective equipment. They were uncomfortable, but they also feared the imminent unavailability of PPE. Doctors and nurses improvised equipment from office supplies or brought PPE in from home. Hospital morgues filled up. On March 25, some eighty-five refrigerated trailers were sent by FEMA to provide places for the bodies.118 Rules were relaxed so that local crematories could “work around the clock.”