After a year of loss, patients ring in 2021 from COVID-19 service in Houston

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Shortly after midnight, Duc Nguyen sat down in his hospital bed for a video call with his wife. The glow of a television and a lamppost outside her window provided the only light as a nasal cannula delivered oxygen to her lungs.

This was not how the 33-year-old had considered welcoming the New Year, but he said he was grateful that the United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) in Houston had a vacant bed so that he can be treated for pneumonia caused by COVID-19.

Nguyen said he was convinced he would recover, but predicted the worst days of the pandemic were ahead.

“We’re still in for another treat next year,” he said huskily. “It’s not over yet.”

Similar scenes unfolded across the country as a wave of post-Thanksgiving infections added to the number of patients forced to usher in 2021 alone, confined to a hospital room by a virus that claimed their lives to more than 342,000 Americans.

Located in a working-class area of ​​northern Houston, UMMC has been hit hard by the waves of cases that swept through Texas during the summer and fall, taking immense physical and emotional toll on nurses like Tanna. Ingraham, who overcame two episodes of COVID-19 herself.

Normally, Ingraham could have heralded the New Year by sharing a drink with friends. Instead, she was still coming to terms with the sudden death this week of a patient who had just had a ventilator removed amid signs that she was on the mend.

Like herself, the patient was 43, and Ingraham held back tears by removing the tubes from her body and placing her in a body bag – a task she has become accustomed to this year. For Ingraham, 2021 and widespread immunization cannot come soon enough.

“I just hope that in the end there will be a light because, honestly, that’s the only thing that keeps me going. That and my faith, ”she said. “So, 2021, I’m ready.”

This week, Reuters followed medics and nurses as they toured UMMC’s COVID-19 unit, stopping to check vital signs and sometimes offering a hug or a hand. Touching it, said Ingraham, whom she had learned from her own battles with the disease, is key to warding off feelings of hopelessness.

TENSE ATMOSPHERE

A handmade sign shows the number of days – 287 – staff have been working since the pandemic hit Texas in the spring. Mexican and American flags hang on the walls, a nod to the many Mexican medical students who have come to help and learn. A Christmas tree and holiday decorations make up for an otherwise tense atmosphere amid the worries of a wave to come.

Texas on Thursday set a new record for COVID-19 hospitalizations, with 12,268 patients in state hospitals, still surpassing the previous high in July, according to data from the Texas Department of Health. A team from the University of Washington whose model was used by the White House predicts that hospitalizations in the state will peak on January 9.

Dr David Persse, the health authority for the Houston Department of Health, fears infections will accelerate in January and February as cases resulting from Christmas and New Year celebrations materialize. Another concern is the possible spread of a highly infectious coronavirus variant discovered in Britain, he said.

“It’s a huge concern,” Persse said. “We are all preparing to see if that happens.”

Dr Joseph Varon, the hospital’s chief medical officer, spoke quickly on Thursday afternoon by putting on personal protective equipment. It was her 287th consecutive workday and two more COVID-19 patients had died the night before.

“We have patients up to the wazoo. The rooms are full. My nurses are exhausted. Emotions are everywhere. People are dying, ”said Varon, who gained national attention in November after a photo of him hugging a COVID-19 patient went viral.

“My hope for 2021 is that people will be a little more conscientious,” he said, referring to wearing a mask and social distancing. “Let them understand that by wearing your mask, you are protecting someone else.”

Terry Peden, a 57-year-old electrical engineer, came to Varon’s COVID-19 unit after being told by another hospital that he should stay home and get over his illness, which went from being diagnosed with COVID-19 to double pneumonia.

Peden said he was just happy to be alive and just ringed the New Years Eve by calling his son and daughter from his hospital bed.

“I would love to be home, but so would everyone,” Peden said. “I will be happy when 2020 is over. It has been a hell of a year for the whole world.