Read on Twitter
This year, I found purpose by channeling my energies into covering the pandemic. But in doing so, I absorbed stress, fear, trauma and tragedy like never before. It's like running a race with no course or finish line.
A
:
A
:
I filed my first coronavirus story on Feb. 4 w/ @saddamscribe, just before people evacuated from Wuhan arrived in San Antonio for a federal quarantine at Lackland. Back then, the concern was whether the virus could spread from the base to the community. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Coronavirus-evacuees-to-be-in-San-Antonio-this-15030822.php
As more evacuees arrived from two cruise ships, those fears intensified. The release of a Wuhan evacuee with coronavirus still in her system set off a battle between local & CDC officials.
Diamond Princess passengers were caught in the middle. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/There-is-something-wrong-Inside-the-15113801.php
Diamond Princess passengers were caught in the middle. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/There-is-something-wrong-Inside-the-15113801.php
That evacuee didn't appear to infect anyone, but the incident taught San Antonians early on to take the virus seriously. People frantically tried to get tested & North Star Mall shut down for deep cleaning. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/She-was-released-from-a-hospital-in-San-Antonio-15146300.php
Attention quickly shifted from the quarantines to community spread, when the first travel-related coronavirus cases began to surface among SA residents.
Health experts said the country was "at war with this pathogen." https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/We-re-at-war-What-to-expect-as-15148576.php
Health experts said the country was "at war with this pathogen." https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/We-re-at-war-What-to-expect-as-15148576.php
Even though testing was extremely limited & mostly focused on those with symptoms, local officials insisted all cases were being identified. But infectious disease experts said official counts were just the tip of the iceberg. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-has-more-than-100-coronavirus-cases-15161910.php
Our first nursing home outbreak occurred at a facility with a history of infection control problems. More than 100 people were infected, and 19 people ultimately died. At one point, that outbreak accounted for a third of all COVID deaths in SA. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Coronavirus-outbreak-at-San-Antonio-nursing-home-15171948.php
In those early months, the conventional wisdom was that older people were at most risk of complications from the virus.
But many young people were also falling critically ill. Doctors went to great lengths to try to save their lives. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/He-s-30-years-old-When-he-fell-ill-with-15224436.php
But many young people were also falling critically ill. Doctors went to great lengths to try to save their lives. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/He-s-30-years-old-When-he-fell-ill-with-15224436.php
Much of the story of this pandemic has happened in hospitals, hidden from view. We wanted the public to understand the unique hardships faced by hospital workers, COVID patients & their families.
So @photodado & I embedded in one COVID ICU. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/18-hours-inside-a-COVID-19-ICU-15333024.php
So @photodado & I embedded in one COVID ICU. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/18-hours-inside-a-COVID-19-ICU-15333024.php
Then San Antonio's first major surge hit.
Soon, that hospital and others across the city were inundated with COVID patients, many of whom were young. In one ICU @photodado & I visited, patients in their 20s & 30s took up an entire section of rooms. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/It-s-going-to-last-a-while-Influx-of-15371417.php
Soon, that hospital and others across the city were inundated with COVID patients, many of whom were young. In one ICU @photodado & I visited, patients in their 20s & 30s took up an entire section of rooms. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/It-s-going-to-last-a-while-Influx-of-15371417.php
By mid-July, deaths began to spike. I spoke with one doctor who facilitated goodbyes for the family of a 42-year-old woman, an experience that left her in tears. Nurses I had interviewed earlier in the year were falling ill from the virus themselves. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/We-re-all-fearful-of-what-could-happen-15402124.php
Even though our hospitals narrowly avoided an El Paso-like crisis, they were still drowning in patients. An ER doctor told me he had never seen "a hospital this sick.â He described the pandemic as a rolling mass casualty event. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/How-long-can-you-sprint-As-COVID-15433769.php
By August, I was burned out and overwhelmed. But families were still being torn apart, forced to make difficult medical decisions about their loved ones without seeing them.
@lisakrantz and I followed one family who grappled with that horror. https://www.expressnews.com/coronavirus/article/COVID-19-decisions-about-death-15538800.php
@lisakrantz and I followed one family who grappled with that horror. https://www.expressnews.com/coronavirus/article/COVID-19-decisions-about-death-15538800.php
By September, SA's crisis had finally abated. But hospitals were starting to see patients whose lungs had been permanently damaged by COVID. A transplant was their only option. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/We-re-poised-to-do-it-University-15669030.php
And evidence was emerging that the pandemic was likely causing indirect deaths in people without COVID. The medical examiner's office was seeing a 15 percent bump in death investigations, a huge year-over-year jump. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Bexar-County-ME-The-coronavirus-pandemic-could-15744003.php
Even as transmission stabilized, experts warned of a dark COVID winter ahead. They said the combination of travel, holidays, cooler weather & widespread misinformation and disinformation would lead to another wave of cases. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/A-dark-winter-San-Antonio-health-experts-15727544.php
They were right. By late November, another surge was underway.
This time, hospital workers were struggling. With little respite from the first surge, they were burned out and traumatized. Some had become desensitized pain and death. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Burnout-Trauma-Disillusionment-The-toll-of-15811707.php
This time, hospital workers were struggling. With little respite from the first surge, they were burned out and traumatized. Some had become desensitized pain and death. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Burnout-Trauma-Disillusionment-The-toll-of-15811707.php
And now, here we are again. COVID hospitalizations in SA have reached summer levels, and officials expect the crisis for hospitals to be worse than it was last time.
The surge still shows no signs of leveling off. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-s-coronavirus-positivity-rate-15832789.php
The surge still shows no signs of leveling off. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-s-coronavirus-positivity-rate-15832789.php
This work has been exhausting. As Ed said, it's like staring into the sun.
It's also like watching a (preventable) tsunami pummel communities, over and over again. I can't fully describe what it's like to absorb that day in and out. https://twitter.com/edyong209/status/1344351322364145665?s=20
It's also like watching a (preventable) tsunami pummel communities, over and over again. I can't fully describe what it's like to absorb that day in and out. https://twitter.com/edyong209/status/1344351322364145665?s=20
The crisis far from over. I'll be doing what I can to inform our community about the impact of the current surge.
And I'm still working on stories linked to the summer surge, pieces I hope to bring to you the first few months of the new year.
And I'm still working on stories linked to the summer surge, pieces I hope to bring to you the first few months of the new year.
I'm grateful to our photographers & editors; to the COVID patients & families who shared their stories; to the hospital workers who answered our questions and allowed us to observe them under the most challenging circumstances.
This work wouldn't exist without them.
This work wouldn't exist without them.
