New York Doctor: “The Sky is Falling”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, the sky is falling, Dr. Griggs. People like you who have been on front lines of emergency care are not given to panic. So, what are you saying?

DR. CORNELIA GRIGGS, PEDIATRIC SURGERY FELLOW AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IRVING MEDICAL CENTER: So, I titled that article “The Sky is Falling” because I’m not afraid if, in a few weeks, people call me an alarmist or if they say we overreacted because if, in a few weeks, this turns out to have been an overreaction, it means we all did the right thing and no one in my life has ever called me an alarmist before. I am trained to be cool in an emergency. In fact, I think of myself as someone who thrives in a crisis. But this is different. And I think (INAUDIBLE) a lot of doctors across the country are scared and go to work in a way we’ve never been scared before.

AMANPOUR: Wow. It’s hard to hear you say that because there you are and you heard your colleagues in Northern Ireland but out their PSA, essentially, because people don’t seem to be paying attention to this advice to stay home. It’s really very difficult to get them to do that in the democratic world, it seems. But your surgeon general in the U.S. says this week is going to get bad.vYou heard your own mayor say, there may be enough for a week, maybe more of equipment to protect yourself and to treat people. What are you seeing where you are right now?

GRIGGS: We are running critically low on PPE or personal protective equipment, specifically masks, and the safest kind of masks. Today, I’ve been given one mask to wear for all of my procedures and all of my operations for the day and these are typically masks that I would dispose of in between every procedure. And we’re expecting to need double the amount of masks that we’re already using by next week and we’re already using an enormous number. And our masks are our only armor when we walk into the room of a COVID positive patient. It’s the only thing potentially between us and getting sick from the disease. So, it’s a really alarming critical shortage. Our hospital leadership is working tirelessly to solve this problem, and get more PPE for our health workforce, but we need everyone in the country to rally around this crisis and help us look for creative solutions to our equipment shortage.