If You Read Anything About COVID-19, Read This NYC Emergency Room Doctor’s Story
Dr. Calvin Sun is an emergency room doctor working on the front lines of the pandemic who has been documenting his experiences in different NYC hospitals on Instagram. (He’s also the founder and CEO of adventure travel company Monsoon Diaries, and a self-described “New Yorker who gets bored easily.”) I spoke with him by phone last month to learn what the experience has been like. Here are some of his insights from working at the forefront of the crisis.
The patient load shifted from the ER to intensive care units
In the earlier days of the pandemic, Sun says, emergency rooms were “jam-packed with stretchers.” A month after New York went into lockdown, though, fewer patients started coming in, making the ER load more manageable. In contrast, the situation in intensive care units became dire. “Upstairs it’s cardiac arrest, cardiac arrest, cardiac arrest” among the COVID-19 patients, Sun says. But ER docs can’t relax yet. “We’re waiting for a resurgence of cases after the lockdown is lifted,” he said.
It’s been said before but bears repeating: COVID-19 is not the flu
“We have people who died in waiting rooms. We lost doctors and nurses – that doesn't happen during flu season. We have refrigerator trucks outside hospitals [for dead bodies],” Sun told me. “We’re rationing EMS [Emergency Medical Services] calls. Official EMS policy now says that if somebody drops dead of cardiac arrest, [first responders] can leave the body behind, and NYPD will pick it up. We’re rationing 911 calls.”
It’s important to be like water – flexible and adaptable
Sun says he’s been “functioning so far OK through this pandemic,” thanks to Bruce Lee’s ethos. He believes adaptability helps not only with the emotional toll, but also with some of the practical challenges of treating COVID-19 patients, like deciding whether to use a ventilator (despite high mortality rates) or administer drugs like hydroxychloroquine or remdesivir (whose side effects are unclear). “I’m very comfortable being uncomfortable,” he says.
Antibody testing
When we spoke, Sun had just been tested for COVID-19 antibodies. A few days later, he posted his test results on Instagram – they were negative. (Still, he joked about possibly having a genetic mutation that grants natural immunity. “Maybe I AM Matt Damon/Mitch Emhoff from Contagion!!!” he posted.)
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