Mary Alyssa G.

Uy March 16, 2020

BSMT 1-G

Italian doctor dies of coronavirus after reportedly having to treat patients without
gloves
Link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/20/coronavirus-italy-doctor-dies/

Just before he was tested for covid-19, Marcello Natali appeared in a TV news interview
to show how dire the situation had become for doctors on the front lines.
From his hospital in Codogno, Italy, the general practitioner raised a bottle of hand
sanitizer and showed his face mask. But as for protective gloves?

“They have run out,” he told Euronews late last month. “Certainly, we were not prepared
to face this situation."

Natali died Wednesday after testing positive for the novel coronavirus and then battling
double pneumonia, Italy’s National Federation of Doctors and General Practitioners
announced in a statement. He was 57.

Natali, a son of a doctor, worked in Codogno, where the country’s outbreak originated,
and treated dozens of patients as coronavirus cases exploded in his region. The father
of two had served as secretary of the general practitioners’ federation in Lodi, where he
also mentored other doctors, the federation said.

According to European media reports, the doctor died alone, isolated in intensive care.

“I have no more tears,” the head of the federation, Silvestro Scotti, wrote on Facebook,
mourning his friend. “You didn’t deserve this. We don’t deserve this.”

As of Thursday, Natali is among at least 13 doctors in Italy who have died on the front
lines while treating the nation’s coronavirus patients under strenuous circumstances,
according to Italian news agency ANSA. Italy, the worst-hit European country, has also
seen more than 2,600 health-care workers infected, as its hospitals are stretched
beyond their limits.

In the United States, doctors have feared that if shortages in supplies and equipment
aren’t robustly addressed, Natali’s experience could be a harbinger for what’s to come.
Natali’s colleague, Irven Mussi, compared the shortage of basic protective supplies for
doctors to being sent to war without any protection, Spain-based news outlet ABC
reported. Another colleague who also tested positive for coronavirus, Paola Pedrini,
lamented to Euronews that little had changed for doctors since Natali fell ill late last
month.

“The situation has not gotten better since end of February. We received some masks,
some gloves kit, nothing else,” said Pedrini, a regional secretary with Italy’s general
practitioners’ federation. “A mask that should last half a day, here lasts a week.”

American doctors are already running into problems with a shortage of face masks to
the point that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged doctors to use
bandannas if they run out of them. Numerous hospitals and health-care clinics have
been soliciting mask donations, and even TV hospital dramas have stepped up to help
donate theirs. In St. Paul, Minn., for example, Open Cities Health Center has put out an
urgent call for gloves and masks, warning that if it doesn’t have enough to go forward, it
may have to shut down, the Pioneer Press reported.

As The Washington Post reported Thursday, some hospitals are even making DIY
supplies, using parts purchased from Home Depot and craft stores. Nurses in Boston
said they have turned to racquetball eyewear as a substitute for safety goggles to
protect their eyes.

Nicole Lurie, a former assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the
Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration, told The
Post earlier this week that the CDC’s bandanna option in place of masks should serve
as a “wake-up call.”

“The bottom line is, if you cannot protect health-care workers and they get sick, the
whole system goes down,” she said. “The priority to maintain public health is to protect
health-care workers.”

On Thursday, Vice President Pence announced that a new law will allow manufacturers
to produce tens of millions more N95 protective masks per month, easing certain
restrictions. But as The Post’s Jeanne Whalen reported, it is not immediately clear
whether the expected increase will be enough to meet demand.
Mary Alyssa G. Uy March 16, 2020
BSMT 1-G

‘COVID-19 hero’: 80-year-old doctor in spotlight for fighting coronavirus on front

line
Link:
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/03/18/covid-19-hero-80-year-old-docto
r-in-spotlight-for-fighting-coronavirus-on-front-line.html

With social media plagued with grim stories about COVID-19, news of 80-year-old lung
specialist Handoko Gunawan’s dedication to handling COVID-19 patients has been
warmly welcomed by many Indonesian netizens.

Internet users were made aware of the doctor’s actions when author Noviana
Kusumawardhani posted a story about him on her Facebook page, saying that he was
working until 3 a.m. and tending to COVID-19-positive patients at Graha Kedoya
Hospital in West Jakarta.

“His kids have urged him not to jump into [the fight against the virus] due to his old age.
However, he said that it would be OK if he died,” Noviana wrote on her Facebook page
on Tuesday, using the hashtag #PahlawanCOVID19 (COVID-19Hero). The post also
displayed a photo of Handoko wearing a hazmat suit.

The post garnered more than 11,000 likes as of Wednesday evening and was reshared
more than 7,200 times.

Facebook users filled the post’s comments section with well-wishes. User Gusti Ngurah
Putra wrote: “His service for humanity is extraordinary, hopefully he’ll stay healthy.”

Words of encouragement also came from celebrity lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea on his
Instagram account @hotmanparisofficial: “People who engage in acts of kindness for
others will be given a calm heart and sleep well.”

Handoko, however, was reported to be ill on Wednesday, as tweeted by actress Kirana

Larasati on her Twitter account @_kiranalara.

She tweeted Handoko’s picture and said that the doctor was admitted to a hospital’s
intensive care unit, though The Jakarta Post could neither confirm nor deny that he was
admitted, with a relative of his only saying that he was in good condition.
“Let’s pray even stronger,” Kirana tweeted.

The tweet was retweeted more than 15,000 times and liked more than 30,000 times.
Some users replied to Kirana’s tweet with prayers for the doctor.

“Get well soon doctor, so you can see Indonesia without the corona[virus] later,” Twitter
user @oktoberries wrote. (mfp)
Mary Alyssa G. Uy March 16, 2020
BSMT 1-G

1. As NSTP MT student, what could be your contribution amid this crisis?

- ​My contribution amid this crisis as a student is to help raise awareness about the
disease, how it could be prevented, and the precautionary measures one can easily do
to help stop its spread. Also, telling people not to hoard medical supplies (like masks
and alcohols) because frontline health care workers have been affected by shortages in
the global supply of personal protective equipment — attributed to rising demand, panic
buying, hoarding, and misuse. And if this continues to deplete, communities would be
endangered regardless.

2. As a social media user, how can you be of help to your community in this time
of crisis?

- ​As a social media user, helping to stop misinformation and false news is one of the
many ways to help the community in this time of crisis. The proliferation of fake news
about the COVID-19 pandemic has been labelled a dangerous "infodemic" because it
hampers the public health response and adds to social disorder and division.