By Amanda Prestigiacomo
A Bronx doctor who has treated the novel coronavirus for weeks and has even contracted the virus himself called for an end to nationwide lockdown measures in op-ed published by The New York Post on Monday.
Daniel G. Murphy, MD, the chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, argued that the brunt of the virus has already passed in his area, once a COVID hotspot, and that is likely not due to lockdown measures. Instead, he argued, the virus has naturally run its course.
Backing this argument, Dr. Murphy noted that his hospital serves low income people who have “essential” jobs where social distancing is generally not possible. He also highlighted that the virus is widespread in the Bronx — about 43% of those tested have the virus — and thus, the neighborhood is on its way to herd immunity.
The negative effects of the COVID response, like cutting off non-coronavirus essential care and building fear of visting the hospital for lifesaving treatment, lest patients also contract the coronavirus, is causing needless destruction, the doctor outlined.
“The lasting impact” of COVID “is what worries me the most,” wrote Dr. Murphy. “And it’s why I now believe we should end the lockdown and rapidly get back to work.”
Weeks ago, the doctor said his staff saw a “wave of critically ill patients in numbers none of us had ever seen.” That lasted for two weeks, he said.
But the wave of the criticality ill Dr. Murphy witnessed is the reason he feels lockdown must end.
The “wave has crested,” he wrote. “At 1 p.m. April 7, the COVID-19 arrivals slowed down. It was a discrete, noticeable event. Stretchers became available by 5 p.m., and the number of arriving COVID-19 patients dropped below the number discharged, transferred or deceased.”
full story at https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyc-coronavirus-front-line-doctor-calls-for-end-to-lockdown