Bodies are seen inside a makeshift morgue outside Wyckoff Hospital amid an outbreak of the coronavirus disease in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, USA, on April 4. [Reuters]
The United States has surpassed 300,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases.
On Tuesday last week, President Donald Trump addressed the nation with even more sobering news from the White House.
“This could be a hell of a bad two weeks. This is going to be a very bad two, and maybe three weeks. This is going to be three weeks like we’ve never seen before,” the president said.
Current models presented by the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week are predicting as many as 100,000-240,000 deaths in the United States.
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Even with mitigating factors, such as social distancing, the virus may last through the summer or longer, ebbing and flowing until a vaccine is found.
New York State has become the epicentre of the virus in the US, with 40 per cent of the nation’s cases.
Rushing to patients
In New York City, hospitals are in crisis. At Brookdale University Hospital in Brooklyn, the intensive care unit is at capacity and the morgue is overflowing.
Patients are laying on beds in the hallway waiting for ventilators, while doctors wearing limited personal protective equipment are rushing from patient to patient.
Arabia Mollette, an emergency room physician, told CNN: “Every day I come, what I see on a daily basis is pain, despair, suffering and healthcare disparities.”
Se likened it to a war zone. The city shut down all non-essential businesses on March 20. Since then, the streets have been empty and the ‘city that never sleeps’ is quiet.
Times Square, in the heart of Manhattan, normally sees 330,000 visitors a day. Now, there may be a few dozen.
Grocery stores are operating on reduced hours and the shelves are constantly low on supplies – especially the coveted toilet paper and hand sanitiser.
Residents are encouraged to practice social distancing and only leave the house when absolutely necessary.
The bustling streets and horns from taxi cabs have been replaced by the sirens of ambulances.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. On Monday, the US Navy sent its sea hospital ship, USNS Comfort, which docked in the Hudson River on Manhattan’s west side.
Crowds of New Yorkers gathered at the pier to applaud the arrival of 1,000 beds, 12 operating rooms, a lab, pharmacy, CT scanner and 1,000 medical personnel in an effort to relieve pressure on the overwhelmed hospitals.
“We all feel a lot emotionally about the arrival of the Comfort; it’s giving us so much hope that our military is here,” the mayor and former Democratic presidential candidate Bill De Blasio said.
“As much as we love the Comfort and we love the fact that the military’s here, people must practice social distancing.”
Mr De Blasio then authorised the New York Police Department to begin issuing fines up to $500 (Sh53,000) to those who ignore warnings against large gatherings.
Eerie silence
The hospitals’ overflow is spilling into Central Park, too. This past weekend, eight tents were erected by the non-profit Samaritan’s Purse, where an additional 68 beds will service patients with severe symptoms of Covid-19.
The normally bustling park – recently filled with New Yorkers and tourists enjoying the budding trees and warming spring weather – is now empty.
Playgrounds are roped off and the ice cream stands, pretzel trucks and horse-drawn carriages that normally dot the park are eerily non-existent.
The New York prison system is also taking a hit. The infamous Riker’s Island jail complex – one of the largest in the world – is a looming public health disaster.
In just 12 days, the jail’s chief physician confirmed that cases soared from one to nearly 200. More than 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the United States – more than any country in the world – and there are increasing fears that the outbreak could spread rapidly in such close confinement.
Rent payments have also been suspended. The New York Times reports that as many as 40 per cent of New York tenants will not be paying rent this month.
The oldest subway system in the United States has dropped from approximately five million riders per day to just 400,000.
Stay put
Rural areas surrounding the city are urging New York residents to stay put. The nearby state of Rhode Island is going door to door looking for New York residents and requiring them to quarantine for 14 days.
Reporting from similarly condense cities, such as San Francisco and Seattle, is more promising. Both those cities enforced mandatory social distancing earlier than New York and evidence is beginning to show that the spike in cases in those cities is not as severe as seen on the US east coast.
“The data gives us hope and understanding about what is possible,” said Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response co-ordinator on Tuesday.
“We are trying to make sure that cities work more like California than the New York metro area.”
Nairobi should be watching New York City closely. Covid-19 is estimated to have a death rate of between 3 per cent and 4 per cent. For Kenya, this implies that for every 1,000 confirmed cases, 40 people may die if no intervention is put into place.
Early actions taken by the government and residents may mean thousands of deaths can be prevented. If New York is any indication, the pandemic will hit Nairobi in a larger way soon. It is up to individuals to be responsible in preventing its spread.
Tara Heidger is a New York City-based reporter. She lives in Harlem with her husband and three daughters.
