Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez profiles physicians on the front lines in Los Angeles and Las Vegas who are finding their own approaches to defeating COVID-19.
In Las Vegas, an ER doctor infected by COVID-19 was critically ill and getting worse, and his chest X-ray gave him a fright.
“I looked at it and thought, ‘My God, I’m gonna die.’”
But a call went out to a California pathologist, and soon a medical courier was driving from Santa Maria to Nevada with a container of frozen plasma packed in a cooler box.
Meanwhile, as the COVID-19 death toll rose, with first responders and healthcare workers among the victims, UCLA epidemiologist Anne Rimoin was not about to wait around for government support for something she thought could help crack some of the mysteries of the coronavirus and save lives.
So she launched the effort on her own.
These two stories, one in Las Vegas and one in Los Angeles, are not directly related but there’s an obvious connection.
We’re in a scary, uncertain place at the moment, and may be for quite a while. But it’s comforting to know that when it comes to the science of developing vaccines, and valiant efforts to keep people alive in the meantime, the race to beat the virus is being waged on many fronts.
Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Featured image: Those on the COVID-19 front lines are at high risk of contracting the disease. A new effort by UCLA professors aims to monitor their health.(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
