If you were to point on a U.S. map where COVID-19 has hit the hardest, it would be New York City. And that’s where Dr. Robert Rowe, a critical care fellow and attending physician in emergency medicine with UCI Health, volunteered in the intensive care unit at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. The Elmhurst neighborhood has been called the “epicenter of the epicenter” of coronavirus infections in the United States. Dr. Rowe joins the UCI Podcast to discuss working 12-hour shifts for a week straight seeing severely ill COVID-19 patients, many of whom died. While COVID-19 cases are proportionately lower in Orange County than in other areas of the U.S., he warns its residents to continue to practice social distancing and other safe behaviors to stem the spread of the disease.
