Hong Kong Disneyland temporarily closed following virus outbreak.

Last part.

Caixin: How many patients with life-threatening conditions have you treated? How many have recovered?

Peng: As of Feb 4, six patients in the ICU of South Central Hospital died. Eighty per cent of them have been improving, a quarter are approaching their discharge and the remainder are still recovering in segregated wards.

The patient who impressed me most came from Huanggang. He was the first to be saved with the assistance of Ecmo. He had contact with South China Seafood Market and was in very serious conditions. He was transferred to the ICU and we saved him with Ecmo. He was discharged from the hospital Jan 28.

Medical workers in protective suits receive a patient at the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, which has been converted into a makeshift hospital to receive patients with mild symptoms caused by the novel coronavirus, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on Feb 5, 2020. PHOTO: REUTERS

Caixin: What are your work load and pace like?

Peng: The work in the ICU is overloaded. There are three patient wards with 66 beds in South Central Hospital, housing 150 patients. Since Jan 7, when we received the first patient, no one took any leave. We took turns to work in the ICU. Even pregnant medical staff did not take leave. After the epidemic got worse, none of the medical staff ever went home. We rest in a hotel near the hospital or in the hospital.

In the segregated ward, we wear level-3 protective gear. One shift is 12 hours for a doctor and eight hours for a nurse. Since protective gear is in a shortage, there is only one set for a medical staff member a day. We refrain from eating or drinking during our shift because the gear is no longer protective once we go to the washroom. The gear is thick, airtight and tough on our body. It felt uncomfortable at the beginning, but we are used to it now.

Caixin: Did you experience a very dangerous moment? For example, in case of intubation, what do you do to prevent yourselves from being infected?

Peng: It is a new coronavirus. We are not sure of its nature and its path of spread. It is not true if we say we are not afraid. Medical staff members do fear to some extent. But patients need us. When a patient is out of breath and non-invasive oxygen provision fails, we must apply intubation. The procedure is dangerous as the patient may vomit or spit. Medical staff are likely to be exposed to the danger of infection. We strictly require doctors and nurses to apply the highest-level protection. The biggest problem we face now is the shortage of protective gear. The protective stock for ICU staff is running low, although the hospital prioritises the supply to us.

Caixin: Is there anything that moved you in particular? Did you cry?

Peng: I often cried because so many patients could not be admitted to the hospital. They wailed in front of the hospital. Some patients even knelt down to beg me to accept him into the hospital. But there was nothing I could do since all beds were occupied. I shed tears while I turned them down. I ran out of tears now. I have no other thoughts but to try my best to save more lives.

The most regretful thing to me was a pregnant woman from Huanggang. She was in very serious condition. Nearly 200,000 yuan (S$39,505) was spent after more than a week in the ICU. She was from the countryside, and the money for hospitalisation was borrowed from her relatives and friends. Her condition was improving after the use of Ecmo, and she was likely to survive. But her husband decided to give up. He cried for his decision. I wept too because I felt there was hope for her to be saved. The woman died after we gave up. And exactly the next day, the government announced a new policy that offers free treatment for all coronavirus-infected patients. I feel so sorry for that pregnant woman.

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The deputy director of our department told me one thing, and he cried too. Wuhan 7th Hospital is in a partnership with our hospital, South Central Hospital. The deputy director went there to help in their ICU. He found that two-thirds of the medical staff in the ICU were already infected. Doctors there were running "naked" as they knew they were set to be infected given the shortage of protective gear. They still worked there nonetheless. That was why ICU medical staff were almost all sickened. It is too tough for our doctors and nurses.

 

Irregardless of how dangerous this corona virus is, and it is dangerous if you get it, the worlds workshop is not open for business. So this will cause a reduction in loads to haul via truck, ship and rail. I'm post poning my return to the USA because I fear the freight volume is going to suffer. I do reefer, so then again people do have to eat and most of my pick ups at the ports are in Texas, usually bananas from Central America.

 

The United States are setting up concentration camps for quarantine in many bases military. Many airports have quarantine rooms. CDC, NIH and others, the heavy hitters have a mountain of money to fight this thing.

However it is my understanding that there is a Cruise ship isolated in Yokohama Japan that gained 66 cases out of about 2500 pax and 1500 crew forced to stay aboard until about late feb. They think if this thing makes the jump from ship on the air to Yokohama itself then the Japanese plan on isolating the city very draconian fast. (Ship has a total of 134 sick. It had no infections when it sailed from I think singapore or hong kong the previous week)

If you have travel to do, get it done while you can. Decide where you want to be for the next two years and get there.

Many Chinese holding Chinese passports are being banned totally from any travel by a increasing number of Countries and City-States.

I am not doing too much, just a low level accumulation of non temperature dry foods so I can feed many people next year if the trucking, logistics etc fails then. I know thats where I am going and am working on it already.

The process of accumulation is made easier. If you bought 10 packets of ... noodles for example at the store today it empties the shelf and triggers a automatic order that is back on the shelf by trucking from distribution within 24 hours. Back I go for another 10. Quietly.