'They're Coming Back To The Hospital Sicker': Boston ER Doctor Seeing Repeat Coronavirus Hospitalizations
BOSTON (CBS) – A Boston emergency room doctor working on the front lines to fight the coronavirus epidemic says his hospital is seeing a new trend – repeat patients.
Dr. Jon Santiago, who is also a state representative, works in the ER at Boston Medical Center. While Massachusetts is in the midst of its surge in cases, Dr. Santiago said that from what he's seeing, protocols put in place to flatten the curve are helping.
When we spoke with him two weeks ago, Santiago told us that BMC briefly ran out of ICU beds during a spike in admissions and homeless patients. He said that is not the case right now, and there are ICU beds open. However, some of those earlier patients are now coming back.
"Over the last week we've seen an interesting phenomenon where people who've been initially diagnosed a week ago, they're coming back to the hospital sicker and often requiring a ventilator or the ICU," Santiago told WBZ. "That just demonstrates how insidious the virus can be."
This weekend he will be assigned to work in the Boston Hope field hospital at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, where he said there are currently 40 to 50 COVID-19 patients.
