'He was just crying'
: The photo of a gloved, masked doctor hugging an elderly patient on Thanksgiving Day has gone viral, a symbol of the desperation of Covid-19 victims and the compassion of healthcare workers.
The snapshot was taken Thursday, November 26, Thanksgiving Day, at the United Memorial Hospital in Houston, Texas, by a Getty agency photographer.
Read also: Covid-19: The United States prepares for an outbreak of cases after Thanksgiving
"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 much better and could be discharged from the hospital before the end of the week, Dr Varon said.
Read also: The Covid-19 also spoiled Black Friday in the United States
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.
"I work every day and people do everything that is wrong, they go to bars, restaurants, malls, that's rubbish
," he said.
“People don't listen and they end up in my intensive care unit.
(They)
must know that I do not want to have to hug them, ”
he added, repeating the sanitary measures to protect himself.
If the instructions are followed,
"then the nursing staff, like me, may be able to rest,"
concluded Dr Varon.
