“People don't listen and they end up in my intensive care unit.
(They) must know that I don't want to have to hug them ”.
Taking advantage of the virality of a photo showing him taking in his arms an elderly patient of Covid-19, an American doctor expressed his compassion for the victims ... and his anger towards those who do "n 'whatever' in a country plagued by a further increase in cases.
"He was just crying," the gloved and masked caregiver explained in the photo taken Thursday, the family's Thanksgiving Day.
This photo has been widely shared on social networks and has become a symbol of the despair of the victims of Covid-19 and of the compassion and courage of healthcare workers.
READ ALSO>
Covid-19 in the United States: how the "third wave" hit the country
It was taken at United Memorial Hospital in Houston, Texas, by a Getty agency photographer.
"Very sad, like him"
"I'm in the Covid unit and I see this elderly patient out of bed, he is trying to leave, he was crying," Doctor Joseph Varon, head of the intensive care unit at the United Memorial, told CNN on Monday.
"I come closer and ask him:
Why are you crying?
He said to me:
I want to be with my wife
.
So I hugged him, ”explained the doctor, saying that he did not realize that his picture was taken.
"He was just crying and after a while he got better and stopped" added Dr Varon who at that moment felt "sorry for him" and "very sad, like him. ".
Hospitalization in a Covid unit is "difficult", even more for elderly patients who feel alone, said the doctor, and some patients have already tried to escape because "they are so isolated, they want to leave".
The patient is doing much better and could be discharged from the hospital before the end of the week, Dr Varon said.
"People do whatever is wrong"
The doctor, who has worked in his unit for 256 days without any day off, expressed his “frustration” at the Texans' lack of respect for health rules.
Texas became the first US state in November to exceed one million positive coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, and the state has more than 21,800 dead.
Newsletter - Most of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le Parisien
I'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.
Learn more
"I work every day and people do everything that is bad, they go to bars, restaurants, malls, it's rubbish," he insisted.
To avoid "having to hug" other people, the doctor repeated the usefulness of sanitary measures to protect themselves.
If the instructions are followed, "then the nursing staff, like me, may be able to rest," concluded Dr Varon.