Exactly 1 year ago today – March 8, 2020, 7am at a Brooklyn emergency room – my first COVID-19 patient walked through the door. Since then: one tragic year of countless patients treated, counseled, lost, and grieved, with even more lives upended and...
Thanksgiving 6 days ago on my birthday, I was having dinner with a few friends who simply wanted to catch up before a possible 2nd NYC lockdown; none of them knowing that it was my birthday at the time. I was okay with that; I guess as you get older — especially...
There’s only so many ways I can write this. 8 months ago when my late grandfather felt a fever come on, he asked me whether to visit an ER that I knew was already overwhelmed and running out of beds. I told him to wait instead so I could first send him a pulse...
I told you there always will be a next wave. It was only a matter of time — Here in NYC we’re now better at screening and treating for COVID-19, but crisis fatigue means far fewer people care. More non-COVID emergencies are mixing in with the COVID crowd so patient...
Photos courtesy of Raubern Totanes and yours truly. By tradition and in the spirit of this very road trip across America (twice!) I write the following in a stream of consciousness Jack Kerouac style — so please forgive all run-ons and typos. Press play and read...
The Cassandra Complex – the phenomenon from Ancient Greek mythology when one’s valid warnings or concerns are disbelieved by others. We’re now literally living it. Despite having endured a crisis so visceral in NYC (or Italy, Wuhan, etc.) 4-5 months ago, and...
Phase 2 of our reopening has begun, and with our infection rates continuing to decline here in NYC, the irony is not lost on me that profound changes happened to us even when we were trapped in stasis. During the past 3 months since March 20th — the country’s...
