A Boston Nurse Urges You to Still Take COVID Seriously

In the last month, the Coronavirus vaccine was proved to be effective. The U.K began its first distribution of the Pfizer vaccine, the FDA claimed it met “the prescribed success criteria,” and distribution is set to begin soon in the U.S. Unfortunately, COVID isn’t going anywhere—at least not for a while—and as the holidays come around, so do large social gatherings.

Almost every state in America is experiencing a new surge, with cases growing and state officials implementing new restrictions and warnings to the public. The U.S. as a whole is experiencing record-breaking numbers of new cases each day, leading to hospitalizations and ICU beds becoming scarce once again.

COVID burnout is real, and we are witnessing the consequences of it right now. When people stop caring and rules become forgotten, not only does the public suffer, but healthcare workers do as well.

The Edge spoke with Mary Ellison, a nurse (and, disclaimer, also my mom) from Boston, where ICU beds are filling up and death rates are rising once again. She works in the PACU—where patients go after they’ve received surgery and are recovering from anesthesia. She has seen first-hand the way health care has been forever changed with COVID. Mary explains what hospitals in Boston and around the country are currently dealing with, and the differences between the initial outbreak and now.

She says that because of the virus’s rapid surge, new cases of COVID have made her hospital’s ICU beds and Emergency Room space limited. “We can’t turn anyone away in the E.R, so the extra E.R. patients have to be spread out throughout the hospital,” explains Ellison.

“We’re better prepared than we were back in March and April, but that doesn’t mean every hospital is going to be able to keep up with the demand these new cases are going to bring,” she says. According to experts, a vaccine will only start to show benefits after six months of use. Meanwhile, cases and deaths will continue if Americans don’t change their behavior soon.

“We’re currently preparing to receive the vaccine at hospitals, but it won’t matter if cases keep rising like they are now,” says Ellison.

Why are people less concerned about the Coronavirus now than they were back in March? Ellison shares this: “I think people are over COVID, and a lot of people haven’t seen the realities of it firsthand.” For some, they never experienced the virus or have had significantly less dire symptoms than the first wave of cases did. However, when the U.S is experiencing over 150,000 new cases each day, it’s no surprise that death rates follow the same trend.

“We hope that the vaccine brings serious change and starts slowing the spread as soon as possible,” Ellison says. “But if people don’t take it, or if people start spreading false information and conspiracies about the vaccine, who knows if the vaccine will help at all.”