NYC’s EMTs Perform Triage As 911 System Is Swamped

The New York Times reports:

Even as hospitals across New York City become flooded with coronavirus cases, some patients are being left behind in their homes because the health care system cannot handle them all, according to dozens of interviews with paramedics, New York Fire Department officials and union representatives, as well as city data.

In a matter of days, the city’s 911 system has been overwhelmed by calls for medical distress apparently related to the virus. Typically, the system sees about 4,000 Emergency Medical Services calls a day.

Last Thursday, dispatchers took more than 7,000 calls — a volume not seen since the Sept. 11 attacks. The record for the number of calls in a day was broken three times in the last week. Because of the volume, emergency medical workers are making life-or-death decisions about who is sick enough to take to crowded hospitals.

Read the full article. No paywall.