The Reality from the Epicenter

Oh boy … the reality and the numbers with this Coronavirus become more alarming every day. I am posting on all different days lately because they all seem the same when you have been home for days on end. Below is a Facebook post written by a New Yorker just diagnosed this past weekend. Before you read it, let me give you the latest statistics from the epicenter of it all.

In New York state, 66,500 adults and children have tested positive since March 1. Over 1200 have died with thousands more expected. At the peak of the flu season, 65,000 cases were identified within a similar 4 week time period. We won’t even hit our peak for another 2-3 weeks.

** Update on April 2, NY currently has 92,381 with 2,373 deaths. Westchester has over 10,000 cases. **

A friend remarked to me this morning that she noticed they stopped comparing it to the flu. It hit me, she was right – THIS IS MUCH WORSE!

**April 4, NY currently has 113,704 confirmed cases with 3,565 deaths. Westchester has 12,350 cases.**

In case you don’t know it yet, I live in Westchester County which is 30 minutes outside of New York City. Since the beginning of March, 9,326 cases have been diagnosed with several deaths in our area. Within 24 hours this past weekend, 644 new cases were diagnosed. Our county holds almost 14% of the state’s total number of cases. I imagine that would be inevitable considering our close proximity to the city. Sadly, I believe it is safe to say that everyone who lives here will know somebody who has either been stricken severely or died from this damn virus.

The following is written by Eric Yaverbaum …

One Man’s Reality

I found myself in an unexpected makeshift tent yesterday. Just outside the adjoined emergency room of a hospital up to its’ unfathomable capacity of people being tested for what has become the most unimaginable time in most of our collective living history since September 11th.

While I sat there having all the routine and not so routine tests done for naively possible admission to a hospital that is already stretched far too thin, I saw people far sicker than myself. Every which I looked. A surreal vision of hospital stretchers with people coughing as if they had smoked their entire lives? A blur of kind and patient nurses and doctors all calmly moving from one patient to the next with dwindling supplies of protective gear that I’ve only ever really seen in bad movies. I’m sure I was in good company wondering in my own mind, “is this real life?”

Out of absolutely nowhere on yesterday morning, I had all the symptoms you don’t want to have. The “cough”. Heavy chest. Can’t smell anything. No taste. Belabored breathing. If you’ve never appreciated your lungs, you will now. Body aches that just aren’t normal. In a flash my oft boasted about energy only fatigued as if I hadn’t exercised and eaten right the majority of my adult life?. Higher blood pressure as though my yearly physical year after year after year no longer as relevant? Low grade fever they told me as they took all my information and vitals for the CDC to track and trace. It was in that hour yesterday that everything changed…even though it’s been an awfully long start to the decade already watching this all unfold one day to the long next. Apparently not distant enough?

This felt more like a ” line in the sand” moment to me being in that tent. I’ve crisscrossed the world and been to some difficult spots in my lifetime. From the shadows of Three Mile Island as a kid to watching Sept 11th from my office windows in Soho. I’ve never been in a tent alone during a pandemic. And alone you will be as no one is allowed in any hospital in the New York area (and no doubt most others) except the patient. You’re not nearly as alone in your own home as you are when you walk in that tent. The gracious and beyond kind, reassuring nurses and subsequently doctor told me what to expect…or not? There’s a whole lot of random to this virus you may have already heard? It’s like an awfully bad flu one day and you can feel better the next. I actually do this morning. My first 24 hours seem like a few different days of not really knowing one way or the other.

The doctor patiently explained the sheer volume of patients as the surge in the New York area keeps growing makes it impossible to admit everyone. Quite obviously my layman eyes could see, there were many people far worse than me. I walked in. Not everyone in that tent was quite as fortunate. As what I guess is somewhat of an early participant in this total disruption of the way we all live and like absolutely everyone else, I will wait for my results. Regardless of what they are, we are all told pretty much the same. Go home. Stay there. Don’t get anyone else sick. There actually are not enough beds. Not yet. Not here. Honestly who wants to be in one of them anyway?

Not enough masks, which my doctor casually referred to as “gold”. Not enough ventilators. There’s also no politics in that tent yesterday. We are all in this together. Separated for now in some ways and closer in plenty of other ways. Instead of this being Day 1506 of my Beachbody inspired fitness journey and self-proclaimed “mid- life comeback,” I’m going to take a rest and let the very heroic doctors and nurses, first responders and all other deemed critically necessary workers do their jobs. From chaos comes heroes. I saw some yesterday. I didn’t need to be reminded how priceless good health is. Yet I was.

Stay home if you can. It’s better for everyone. A parting thought before I rest…82,000 people have already recovered. That’s very good news. Check out what they are already doing at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York as they are seeking those who have already recovered to have your blood tested to see if you have high levels of antibodies. They’re already working on an answer and there are answers that will be found. You could save a life. If you can help, please e-mail them at [email protected] Someday we will all look back on this moment and it will remind to never take little things for granted. Count your blessings. Twice.

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I pray that Eric’s journey stays status quo and his symptoms are not as horrific as many others he saw in the tent on Saturday. But this is the reality around here; tents and community centers being turned into hospitals and morgues. They are calling it a war because that’s what it is – an apocalyptic type of war written in the future. But the future is here.

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I try to always keep this blog hopeful, and Eric’s story is one of hope and gratitude. But at the same time, I want to help people … whether it be to learn from my mistakes or those of others.

Today, in a news conference, Governor Cuomo said that we didn’t get ahead of the virus, and now we are playing catch up, which is much harder. So to all of you, I implore you to follow the correct quarantine rules so this does not happen to you or the area you live in. This blog has been read by thousands in the last month, from all over this country, Canada, and 76 others around the world, so I hope wherever you live, please learn from this and Please, I beg you, STAY HOME!

Nobody is safe unless you follow the rules to the letter of the law. Too many people are still going to the parks, congregating, and not following the protocol around here and the numbers are staggering.

Learn from other’s mistakes. Just because you only have a few cases around you, those few cases can affect hundreds if it is not taken seriously. Don’t play catch up, get ahead of it. Stay home NOW and you won’t have to suffer the consequences later.

Let our reality be the lesson for today and I hope you learn from it.

I can’t end this without a shout out to all the nurses, doctors, hospital personnel, custodians cleaning and anyone who puts themselves in harm’s way for the benefit of others. GOD BLESS YOU, our new and true heroes!

Much love to you, many prayers to those touched by this, and for the nightmare to end,

Sandy

#enlighten #empower #inspire #educate #reality #lessonslearned