Eight months into the pandemic, and the coronavirus continues to run rampant in the United States.
For the second straight day, cases hit an all-time high in America with 120,000 new infections reported. Wednesday marked the first day of more than 100,000 cases in a single day.
And the numbers continue to climb in San Diego County. Health officials reported 530 new cases and three percent out of nearly 16,000 tests were positive. Hospitalization rates are also rising to similar numbers as seen in August.
San Diego County’s adjusted case rate is on track to put the county in the most restrictive purple tier by next Tuesday.
“It's exhausting .We have all been working tirelessly since March,” said Ellie Matthews, B.S.N, CC, R.N., Clinical Lead at Sharp Memorial Hospital’s Medical ICU.
The exhaustion has not slowed down ICU nurses at Sharp Memorial Hospital who are treating hundreds of COVID-19 patients that have been admitted into San Diego County intensive care units.
“To see the community continuing to go out and not wear masks and calling it a 'hoax' - it's hard to not take that personally and it gets angry because we are here every day doing this and it's not easy,” said Matthews.
She said many of the patients in the ICU are younger and are not admitted because of risky behavior. Instead, their infections were traced back to family gatherings.
“We've had patients get it from church. We've had patients get it from their children who are out in the community and they don't think they will bring it home and their parents pass away. I would never want to live with that guilt,” said Matthews.
Cases continue to rise just weeks before the holidays.
“To think there is going to possibly be another wave and another surge, it's terrifying because we are hitting our limit,” said Matthews.
Another ICU nurse at Sharp Memorial Hospital treated one of the county’s first COVID-19 victims.
“This isn't something where oh it's going to be a little less deadly, a little less contagious because it's been around for six months. This is still the exact same virus in March and the same virus that has killed over 200,000 Americans,” said Diane Ward, R.N., Sharp Memorial Hospital Surgical ICU.
Ward said she understands the fatigue, but said flattening the curve worked in the summer and it can continue to work today.
“All of us nurses are going through this quarantine the same way everyone else is and we feel the burden of it and we understand how exhausting this has been,” said Ward. “It is just a reminder that we have to continue to stay vigilant."
Healthcare workers said they don’t do their job for the appreciation, but the support keeps their spirits up.
