What A Day - The View From The ICU

Episode Date: April 3, 2020

We interview Dr. Shaoli Chaudhuri, a resident at Columbia Medical Center in Manhattan, about what she’s seeing in the Covid-19 epicenter as doctors treat a growing number of patients with the virus - and healthcare workers themselves are getting sick. An astonishing 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the US last week, and there’s a growing concern that coronavirus tests aren’t as accurate as many thought. And in headlines: four major storms predicted for the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season, lock up your Zoom, and Jeff Sessions clings on to a fake friend.

It's Friday, April 3rd. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, where we will be absolutely turning up this Friday night by watching two movies instead of one. Yeah, we're talking Mamma Mia 1 and 2, Cher, Out Here, doing covers of ABBA. We're talking about running back a goofy movie, start to finish, twice or thrice.

On today's show, a conversation with a doctor on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 in New York City, then some headlines. But first, the latest. What's up, guys? Big Daddy Sitch is in the building, aka The Situation, and I have a special message for New Jersey. Stay home, be positive, and practice social distancing. We got this, New Jersey. Wow. The Situation. Let you guys know what The Situation is. Yeah, we love Jersey Shore and this household. But let's get into the news. All right. An astonishing 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. That adds up to almost 10 million job losses in just the last two weeks.

To put these numbers in perspective, before now, the worst week of unemployment filings was in 1982, when almost 700,000 people filed in a single week. Now, obviously, that pales in comparison to what we're seeing now. Beyond the severe economic shock we're witnessing, what is the latest in D.C.? Yeah, so we might get new guidance on face masks from the White House. That's one of the big stories. Yesterday, there was reporting that the administration is going to announce that all Americans should be wearing some kind of face covering, be it a cloth mask or another type.

And that comes after the CDC said it was concerned that asymptomatic people are spreading the virus. Yet at the same time, health officials have said that it is crucial for N95 masks, the ones that are airtight, that typically look a lot more official than a lot of the other ones that you see folks wearing, that those be kept for frontline health care workers. Then on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she's forming a bipartisan committee in the House to monitor relief efforts and the administration's overall pandemic response. At the head of that committee is going to be Congressman Jim Clyburn. And overall, they're going to have subpoena power, which means in theory, they could get testimony and documents from the administration about their handling of the pandemic. Now, the committee is also supposed to play an oversight role in the distribution of funds from the $2 trillion economic relief package. That goes back to something we mentioned on an earlier show about Trump trying to control what an inspector general

could and could not share with Congress about the corporate bailout fund in the bill. Moving on, though, there was also a lot of news in the testing world as the United States has lagged woefully behind on that front. Akilah, what is the latest there? Right. So one bit of not the best news is that there's a growing concern that COVID-19 tests aren't as accurate as everyone would really hope. That's to say, you know, false negatives have been reported, meaning you could theoretically be tested for COVID-19, have it say you're all clear, and then take another test that says you're positive for the virus. According to the Wall Street Journal, health experts say they now believe nearly one in three patients who are infected are getting a negative test result. That

is a lot. Yeah, and they're still gathering evidence on this, but that figure is way more than the margin of error. Absolutely. And many hospitals aren't clearing anyone who gets a negative read if they're still symptomatic, which is good news. But if you're asymptomatic and your test is negative, please don't necessarily assume that means you should ease up on the social distancing efforts

because we all got to stay inside for this to work out. And then here's one little bit of good news on the testing front. So the FDA has approved the first antibody test for coronavirus in the United States. This is a test that will tell you if you ever had exposure. So perhaps you had it and you got better and you don't even know it. Well, now they have that test. It could help us figure out, you know, what the actual spread is, who might now be immune. You know, there's still outstanding research about how the immunity with this virus works, how long it lasts, if it lasts.

But still, this is all good news. Yeah, absolutely. And to close the loop on something else that we've been talking about, what's the update with supply shortages for healthcare workers? Yeah, so the lack of protective equipment is obviously still a major issue. Government stockpiles are running out. And once again, the gaping hole where Trump's leadership ability should be is not helping. You know, for example, a million N95 masks were moved from China to Massachusetts on the New England Patriots private jet. So yeah, that just means that health care workers are relying on favors from Patriots owner Robert Kraft to help them stay safe while saving lives. Just think about that. I mean,

I've seen a lot of disaster films, a lot of apocalypse films. Never once was the U.S. scrounging around trying to get gloves. It's outrageous. There's also been reports of countries fighting with one another to get access to supplies. So Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is concerned that supplies destined for his country are being diverted elsewhere, including to the United States. I just want you all to know that concerned is actually Canadian for really fucking pissed. One report said that a Montreal based businessman bought 10,095 protective masks, which he planned to donate to local hospitals. But after they arrived at a DHL shipment center in Quebec, they were inexplicably diverted to Ohio. In another case, a shipment of masks bound for Quebec arrived smaller than expected after traveling throughout Europe. So other countries have also been reporting similar diversions of that life-saving equipment.

Something has to give. You know, people need the equipment and we need it everywhere. Right. So that is going to be the latest. But here at Crooked, we're raising money for charitable foundations that are on the ground helping right now. If you can help and you would like to, head over to crooked.com slash coronavirus. We just hit a million dollars. So thank you so much if you've already given.

And, you know, it's not too late to throw a little bit more in there. New York remains the epicenter of the coronavirus in the U.S. with over 90,000 confirmed cases, and more than half of those are in New York City, where the virus is also taking a toll on the health care workers needed to combat it. One of them is Dr. Shaoli Chaudhry. She's a resident in her final year at Columbia Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood in Upper Manhattan. She was working in the ICU until she got sick with a fever and cough last week and was sent home for a seven day quarantine. Although she wasn't tested, she suspects she had COVID-19. I spoke with her earlier this week to hear more about her experience and started off by asking her how she thinks she may have gotten sick. Note, Dr. Chaudhry is speaking on behalf of herself

and not as a representative of Columbia Med. Probably because it is rampant both in my community and in every hospital in New York now. I was fortunate in that I never went into a room without protective gear. But at the same time, although I was working mainly in the ICU last week, part of my job was walking back and forth throughout the hospital and to the emergency room, which is not as protected. And as you can imagine, a lot of people come into the emergency room, they may or may not have the initial symptoms of COVID and so may not be on the proper isolation. And so there is certainly a point, maybe like halfway through my rotation where I walked into the emergency room and I had a feeling that any of us could be exposed to COVID

at any time. Right. And in terms of the actual work that was happening in the ICU, we've seen, obviously, lots of different kinds of stories coming out of New York, obviously harrowing ones. Can you talk a little bit about what you saw there over the last couple of weeks? Sure. I think harrowing is the right word for it. I honestly, in talking to my colleagues and reflecting on it myself, this is probably the worst thing I've ever seen as a doctor. And I hope it is the worst thing I ever see. But in the span of a week to a week and a half, we went from a couple of COVID patients in the hospital to the hospital being inundated with very sick COVID positive patients. We've had to double our capacity in the icus and throughout the hospital and as you've seen we are like redeploying retired health care workers or health care

workers who do not necessarily work in internal medicine and critical care yeah and in terms of uh supplies personnel you're kind of getting at this. Does it feel overwhelming where you're working? Are there enough people and supplies? And then broadly, where you're at, is that sort of a reflection of the larger medical community in New York with whom you may have spoken or how does it kind of stack up? Yeah, I think so. I am at a private hospital and we do just have more resources than other people do. And so I've been fortunate, but I have friends all over New York and especially the ones who don't have as many resources. I hear like scary stories. I hear about people running to code situations, which are like very high risk for COVID exposure, not having masks or not having proper fitting masks. I hear about running out of gowns, having to use the same mask many, many times, and then running out of equipment.

We use these things called high-flow nasal cannulas, which provide more oxygen than a regular nasal cannula, and people are running out of those. So we are worried about that. And then I think staffing is also a big issue because although I think we've been good about getting enough physicians and physician assistants, we all across the city really need nurses and critical care trained nurses who can help take care of these sick patients. Right. And in terms of the patients that you were seeing, are they typically young or older?

And what is the level of severity of conditions? Is it ranging depending on who you're seeing? For me, one of the most shocking things was seeing how young many of our patients were. We see the statistics like out of Italy that are showing a much older demographic dying and becoming critically ill. And unfortunately, that's not really what I have been seeing or what my colleagues have been seeing. We on a daily basis are seeing patients in their 20s and 30s who are being intubated. I also like I live in the same community that I work in. And I take care of a lot of these patients both in clinic and in the hospital. And it has been hard and talked to who doesn't have someone affected by this who doesn't have a loved one in the icu um i just spoke to a patient yesterday i was just

doing a routine uh like telemedicine visit and it happened that i had taken care of her husband in the ICU and he subsequently passed away. And she herself is on quarantine and was handling it like very gracefully. But it made me so sad because she's on quarantine. She's isolated and she can't really grieve with anybody. Right. There are so many elements of this that are so overlapping in terms of sadness. Is there anything, though, that you have experienced or seen from the start of this crisis to now that has given you hope about either the social mitigation process, what people are learning scientifically, anything along those lines? Yeah, I mean, I think both socially and from a scientific perspective, there are encouraging

aspects. I think as a community, we have all really come together and I've seen my colleagues and friends rise to the occasion. No one complains with the doubled or tripled workload. They just take it in their stride, which I really appreciate. And then our community, we've had so many donations of of personal protective gear, of food. It's kind of cute. There's this member of our community who comes out in front of the hospital with his dog and holds up a sign that says, like, thank you to your staff for everything you're doing.

So I think that gives me hope. That was Dr. Shali Chaudhry in New York City. She also mentioned that if you want to donate protective equipment, you can head over to getusppe.org. That's getus WOD Squad. That means it's our last episode before we get a fun, lazy weekend that will recharge us for another week of gesturing widely everywhere. All of this, all of this that is happening but it also means it's a great time to check in so hey giddy what's your dream weekend

scenario hello um you know you're just gonna have to accept the nickname yeah it is it is what it is um it's a great question you know i was a little short on books here um so i i did an order of books on this site that i found where they're giving um i think it's about 30 back to the actual local um bookstore it's like an alternative to amazon which is cool. We all need that. Yeah. And so that's not going to get here in time for this weekend, but it constitutes a dream weekend scenario when they do arrive. Love that. I'm into that. Reading is fundamental.

Yes, it is indeed. And I am woefully behind on it. But Akilah, welcome to Hollywood. What is your dream? Oh, man. I have a feeling you don't know that reference that I wrote. That's from my favorite movie pretty woman um all right i also have not seen pretty woman so that is there you go maybe that's my dream for your weekend yes honestly is that traitor is that paul straight it's not that's american gigolo yeah sorry it's uh it's another Richard Gere movie. It's Nat. I digress.

My dream weekend. Let's see. You know, I have been cooking as we all have been remembering how to do these survival techniques. And so I'm really trying to bake this weekend. That's my, like, focus. I want to bake some cookies, maybe some peanut butter cookies. And, you know, I think that we have, I think both days of our weekend are good weather here in LA. Sunday is supposed to be crappy, but you know, Friday, Saturday should be tight. So I plan on, uh, I plan on laying out. That's great. Enjoying it. Yeah. Just lay outside and feel some

sun and try not to panic about the people that I hear outside walking by. Cause I, it's weird. Six feet away from you, six feet away from the cookies. That's the rule. That's exactly right. Don't come near the cookies. And guess what? That was our temperature check. The weekend is a great time to schedule little FaceTime calls and Skypes and whatnot. So, you know, also, I guess every day is. But we will see you bright and early Monday with an update on how we spent the days away. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Four major hurricanes have been forecasted for the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. That is according to early predictions released by Colorado State University.

The hurricanes are expected to reach Category 3 to 5 during a season that lasts from June until November. The chances for at least one of those hurricanes to make landfall along the United States is 69%. If that happens, the East Coast, including Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, are likely to be hit. The last time a hurricane season had four or more major hurricanes was in 2017, which was the year of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Can the hurricanes be cool for once and just leave us alone until next year? Yeah, more. We really don't need any other crap happening.

All right, well, the teleworking app many of us have become freakishly familiar with, Zoom, is garnering a lot of scrutiny from security and privacy experts. Just last week, the FBI announced it was investigating a rise in what's known as Zoom bombing, where hackers infiltrate meetings to shout racial slurs, broadcast nudity, you know, all that classic internet stuff. Like, why not just Rick Roll us? Anyway, researchers also found that the app didn't have end-to-end encryption for video calls, meaning that hackers could easily gain access to a user's webcam or mic. The company announced yesterday that they will be shifting their resources from adding new features to focusing on upping its security. Some enhanced face tuning could also be good because these low lap-to-face angles are not

really doing us any favors. Yeah, make me beautiful. Zoom. Amazon wants you to put down that e-reader and pick up a freaking joystick. The New York Times detailed three of Amazon's first offerings from their original game studios yesterday. They are a League of Legends style team shooter called Crucible, a massively multiplayer and massively steampunk RPG called New World, and another MMORPG based on Lord of the Rings. Now, as you can tell from these offerings, they're not going for the rainy day. I just got a Switch to try Animal Crossing Gamer. They are aimed squarely at the Mountain Dew game fuel contingent,

and honestly, God bless them. Amazon is also working on a cloud gaming effort called Project Tempo. Cloud gaming puts the onus for processing onto corporate data farms, allowing users with cheaper devices to participate. I cannot wait to beat Quest on my high school issued TI-89. Dork. Next up, a sad story about best friends growing apart that rivals the third act of Dumb and Dumber, Superbad, and Step Brothers combined. President Donald Trump's campaign sent a cease and desist letter to Jeff Sessions after Sessions' Alabama Senate campaign sent mailers implying he had Trump's support.

Trump has publicly reviled Sessions since the former attorney general recused himself from investigations into Russian interference back in 2017 that wasn't reflected in Sessions' mailers, which mentioned Trump 22 times. Trump has also endorsed former football coach Tommy Tuberville over Sessions in Alabama's runoff election. In the letter, Trump's campaign called Sessions, quote, delusional and made his opposition to Sessions' candidacy unambiguous. The image of Sessions reading this letter in an easy chair three times his size while socially isolating in his little house is almost too much for the heart to bear. You know, if there's one consistency in life, it's that Trump is a messy bitch who loves drama.

It's true. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show show make sure you subscribe leave a review stay out of our zoom and tell your friends to listen and if you're into reading and not just the still active space jam website that's still live from 1996 like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter check it out and subscribe at cricket.com subscribe i'm akilah h. I'm Gideon Resnick. And please don't write swears on your TI-89. It's not what it's for. Do some sign and cosign and quit playing. It's not for swears.

It's for writing boobs. What a day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.