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A Houston Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctor who has treated coronavirus patients for more than 250 consecutive days goes viral for a simple act of compassion.
Dr Joseph Varon, chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center, was caught kissing a man with COVID-19 while working in the ICU on Thanksgiving Day.
HOUSTON: Dr. Joseph Varon kisses and comforts a COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) patient during Thanksgiving at the United Memorial Medical Center on November 26, 2020 in Houston, Texas. According to reports, Texas has reached more than 1,220,000 cases, including more than 21,500 deaths. (Photo by Go Nakamura / Getty Images)
Dressed in full personal protective equipment (PEE), the photo, taken by a photographer with Getty, shows Varon hugging the man, whose face is hidden from the camera, his head tucked into the crook of Varon’s arm. One of the patient’s arms is apparently wrapped around Varon, hugging him tightly.
“He was very sad because he’s in a room where he doesn’t know anyone,” Varon told “Good Morning America” of the viral moment. “We come dressed as astronauts, and although I usually have my photo with me so they know who I am when I go to see them, it’s very frustrating for the patients, and he was very emotional.”
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Varon, who heads the hospital’s COVID-19 unit, said he hugged the man, who was not identified, “as I heard [his emotion]. “
Varon also told “Good Morning America” about his trying days in hospital, as the photo was taken on his 252nd consecutive day of treating coronavirus patients. The days are often 16 hours long, he says, and some nights he doesn’t come home. Even if he can, “I get a million phone calls in the middle of the night.”
“We get frustrated because we see people, they come in very, very sick and when you ask them, ‘How did you [COVID-19]? ‘they’re basically telling you that they haven’t followed any of the things that we asked them to follow – no social distancing, no wearing masks, going to large gatherings, “he said. “
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The photo comes as the United States has recorded more than 13,500,000 cases to date, with a death toll of close to 270,000 as of Tuesday morning, according to estimates from Johns Hopkins University.
The United States reported a new record of coronavirus hospitalizations late last week, with some 90,481 people hospitalized with the virus on Thanksgiving, according to estimates from the COVID Tracking Project, an increase of 522 from on the eve.
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Health officials across the country have warned of an increase in the number of cases of the deadly virus after Thanksgiving, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, saying there will be “almost certainly a increase ”linked to vacation travel.
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In fact, despite warnings from health officials to limit vacation travel, an estimated 1,070,967 people passed through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints the day before Thanksgiving this year, the highest levels since March. (However, the estimates were still lower than same-day estimates in previous years.)
“We are exhausted. We are tired,” Varon continued, speaking of his fellow doctors. “I have nurses [who] are in the middle of the day crying because they continue to see patients and there are just not enough nurses to help us. “
Alexandria Hein of Fox News contributed to this report.
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