I was texting someone over the weekend and, in what has become a usual exchange, I asked if he was doing OK.
Yes, he answered back, but he expressed worry for his daughter. She’s a physician assistant in the ER of a Western New York hospital.
“Ya, I’m worried,” he texted. “Sucks.”
I texted back: “But I bet she goes in every day knowing she’s needed … God’s grace to her.”
He answered: “She does. And fearless. Thank you.”
It can’t be easy for our health care workers in Olean, Bradford, Wellsville and throughout the region to see the reports on how the coronavirus is raging in the New York City area. The news coverage has long since moved into something from what was once only in science fiction.
According to reports Monday, the number of coronavirus deaths in New York shot up by 253 in a single day to more than 1,200. A Navy hospital ship was pulling into New York Harbor and makeshift hospital tents were being erected on the grass in Central Park. The governor of the state and the mayor of New York are begging for supplies.
State officials expect the number of deaths to continue to rise as the outbreak reaches its projected peak in the coming weeks.
“Whatever the number is, it’s going to be staggering,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “We’ve lost over 1,000 New Yorkers. To me, we’re beyond staggering already.”
Proportional numbers are not close in Western New York and northwest Pennsylvania to what is being reported in NYC. But it’s clear that the number of infections is growing, as Cattaraugus County and McKean County, Pa. reported the first cases over the weekend.
Allegany County reported its first death from COVID-19 complications on Monday, while multiple deaths and increased infection is being reported in Erie County and the city of Buffalo.
The coronavirus has shown that the numbers of the infected will continue to grow — no matter where.
And locally we have EMTs, many of them volunteers, as well as firefighters, nurse’s aides, cleaning staff, nurses, PAs and doctors bracing themselves for what may come. They are stolidly reporting for their shifts because they know they are needed — all while understanding how insidiously infectious this coronavirus is.
They’ve seen the stories from places like NYC, Italy and Spain. Relatively young, healthy professionals in health care infected because of their exposure in overwhelmed hospital facilities. Facebook videos of nurses begging for supplies and more support.
But our health care professionals in our communities here are at their posts.
The analogy has been made that we are literally on a wartime footing because of the pandemic. In this case, the frontline troops we are looking to for protection are our health care workers. We won’t be able to come out on the other side of this nightmare without them.
It just so happens that Monday was National Doctors’ Day. Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center posted a message supporting their doctors, while also encouraging support for all members of the health care teams who will be there, fighting for us.
As the hospital’s FB post stated: “Heroes don’t wear capes, they wear scrubs.”
Meanwhile, let’s remember more heroes out there, from police officers, who are out there in the face of this pandemic as well; to prison and county jail personnel; to municipal and utility workers keeping services going; to mail, package and food delivery personnel; to pharmacists and pharmacy clerks; to grocery store workers and convenience store clerks.
The other night I popped into a convenience store to grab a gallon of milk. I leaned forward from as far back as I could to insert my credit card chip.
“Thank you,” the clerk said.
“No, thank you,” I said. “You hangin’ in there?”
“So far,” he said.
God’s grace to him, too.
(Jim Eckstrom is editor of the Olean Times Herald and Bradford Publishing Co. His email is jeckstrom@oleantimesherald.com.)
