Take heart: it feels like worst of coronavirus outbreak is past, in London at least

A senior doctor at a major London teaching hospital writes from the front line 
Staff from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London join the salute to local heroes during the nationwide Clap for Carers
PA
20 April 2020

Medics like numbers. Stats. Trials and probabilities. That’s our oxygen. We watched the Covid numbers rising with a mixture of fear and anticipation.

We were terrified of the prospect of over-bedded wards and corridor deaths. And then suddenly it was ok.

London did not go into meltdown. Our hospital had beds. To spare. Sure, PPE supply is disorganised and the national testing is shameful.

It looks as though London was 10 days ahead of the rest of the UK. We have to examine what happened in the first wave and learn the lessons. But for now, take heart — it’s getting better.

We had 40-plus Covid admissions a day two weeks ago and now it’s 10. It’s more than a trickle, but it is fading. The worst is over. We did not collapse.

Massive efforts went into expanding our capacity to take a huge wave … but the horrible tsunami, wave after wave — that did not materialise.

On the frontline patients arrive but the sense of stress has evaporated.

When you are in a lift that’s falling you don’t know how bad it’s going to be. That is stress. The not-knowing. Now we know. Bad. But not overwhelmingly bad.

Now there is a different story and that is about recovery. Rehabilitation. Not rehab from bad stuff but rehab from ICU. Intensive-care survivors need a lot to get better. Lungs, kidneys, heart — and mind. Mind takes time.

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So there is still so much to do to rebuild the survivors of the storm. Those buildings in the wreckage of the hurricane. But they will get back to close-to-normal.

And let me say again: in London the worst is past. Good.

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