In the Intensive Care Unit we're used to taking care of sick patients.

We do it all day, every day. So why is #COVIDー19 any different?

It’s the silence and the volume.

THREAD 1/5

Sure, there are sounds in the ICU.

The donning and doffing of PPE like rustling leaves. The muffled chirp of a ventilator alarming behind shut doors.

But there’s less chatter amongst the staff now. No families. No lingering in the doorway of a patient on the mend.

2/5

And the silence spreads as more and more sick patients come.

Like a tidal wave slowly cresting, a volume of patients beyond that which any of us have ever seen. 

More ventilators. More drips. More silence.

3/5

ICU beds are scarce. One opens up but it’s claimed within minutes and soon filled.

Filled by grandmothers and grandfathers and sisters and brothers and sons and daughters and mothers and fathers.

Many in shock, confused, in multi-system organ failure. All severely hypoxic.

4/5

But we know more patients are coming.

Thanksgiving happened. And Christmas and New Years will happen. And bars and restaurants and play dates and dinners with friends.

Outside the ICU, outside the hospital, there’s so little silence.

Not nearly enough silence. 

5/5

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