Stark warnings from frontline workers scream out to be heard
SOMETIMES it takes a while for the gravity of a situation to sink in. For me the gravity of the coronavirus has been seeping into my psyche with growing severity over recent days.
Images from Italy have been seared into my mind. These include images the obituary pages of a Bergamo newspaper being turned over and over as I looked on horrified from the safe remove of my phone. The pictures posted by nurses and doctors in London of freshly carved grooves in their red, tired faces from wearing face masks while treating people who have contracted Covid-19.
Sitting dozing on the couch Thursday night, the sobering words of Dr Catherine Motherway, an intensive care physician at University Hospital Limerick, who warned us that we must all treat one another like pariahs – essentially as if everyone has this condition which is killing not only elderly, but also young people in Italy. The message couldn’t be clearer: nobody’s risk is zero with this.
Although the figures are still relatively small here in Ireland, they could shoot up later this week and early next week as testing is ramped up.
Staring straight down the lens, Dr Motherway’s warning was stark. It sent shivers up my spine and made me sit up and listen.
Following a weekend which saw 80 teenagers attend a house party in the Midlands, and people congregating at beaches and public amenities not observing the two metre distancing – despite their efforts I’m sure – her words have come back to me as I write what is, essentially, a cautionary public service broadcast. But then this is what newspapers have been doing in times of crisis for centuries.
Dr Motherway outlined how last week Ireland had half the number of ICU beds compared to the European norm, including in Italy where there have been around 5,500 deaths and almost 60,000 Covid-19 cases.
‘We need people to take this seriously,’ Dr Motherway implored. ‘This is a virus; we know it’s near us and that it’s in the community in Ireland. We know that if we don’t control the surge we know we will have major problems coping. There is no health service that could cope with what Italy has gone through last week or indeed Wuhan in China.’
She said the HSE is funding a significant number of beds, and wards in hospitals have been identified where patients suspected of having coroanvirus can be seen.
‘You need to keep two metres away from other people. Stay at home, wash your hands. Prevention, in this instance, is the best cure. That is what the people of China and South Korea have taught us. One in five patients in my ICU lose their lives. The death rate with this is unknown. You need to make sure if you are young that you don’t give it to your parents or to your grandparents; that is really important. The only way to do that is for the entire community to act. Really think about this. Keep away from each other. Essentially you must treat each other like pariahs. It’s a big change for us but we need to do that to prevent what is happening in Italy happening here.’
Clearly the youths in Longford weren’t watching. In these stressful times it is imperative that we face into what is coming down the tracks or it will steam-roll us. That, for a mollycoddled generation not used to making sacrifices, doesn’t come quickly.