'Take it Seriously': New York Woman Recounts Struggle With COVID-19
A woman who recovered from the novel coronavirus urged people to “take it seriously” and “protect yourself” after she was hospitalized at Mount Sinai Morningside in New York City.
Video provided by Mount Sinai shows the patient, 33-year-old Janet Mendez, documenting her experience with the coronavirus.
Mendez checked into the hospital on March 25 due to “profound” shortness of breath, according to a Mount Sinai spokesperson. She was taken to the emergency room and subsequently the intensive care unit (ICU) for “progressive respiratory failure.”
A doctor in the video described Mendez as “mortally ill,” adding that she was placed on a ventilator for 10 days.
“Her lungs were so damaged by the virus that they couldn’t contain the air…instead the air permeated through her tissues, causing her whole body to swell (including face) that her eyes couldn’t open,” a hospital spokesperson said.
Mendez began to recover and left the ICU on April 7. The footage also shows health care workers applauding for Mendez as she is discharged from the hospital and sent home on April 13.
There were at least 106,813 coronavirus cases, resulting in 29,335 hospitalizations, in New York City as of April 13, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Credit: Mount Sinai Morningside via Storyful
