(22 Jun 2020) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus138534

Frontline medical workers at a Maryland Intensive Care Unit say the coronavirus pandemic is "far from being over" and are urging the public to continue following safety precautions to limit the spread of the disease.
President Donald Trump has been urging states to reopen after months of lockdown because of the global pandemic pushed the country into an economic recession.
Although there's been an overall drop in daily deaths nationwide, several states, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas, have reported surges in cases after taking steps to reopen.
Fort Washington Medical Center only had four ICU beds at the start of the pandemic, but recently opened a modular unit on their campus with 16 ICU units that use negative room pressure to isolate COVID positive patients from the rest of the facility.
Dr. Karen Dixon, the medical director of the Emergency Department at Fort Washington said their facility was a hotspot for the virus back during the first two months of the public health crisis.
The hospital serves a large portion of Prince George's county, which rescinded it's stay-at-home order and started reopening certain businesses on June 1. Right now Prince George's county has had about 660 deaths and leads the state of Maryland with more than 17,800 confirmed cases of the virus, according to statistics from John Hopkins University.
Kevin Cole, a respiratory therapist at Fort Washington, is also asthmatic and knows the anxiety and fear coronavirus patients experience when they can't breathe.
Cole said it drives him crazy to see the sudden return of crowded public places where it's tough to social distance, like the ongoing demonstrations against police brutality or President Donald Trump's first post-quarantine election rally in Oklahoma.
"People that I talked with about COVID, they really think it's a government thing, and it's like, are you crazy?" Cole said. "I work with these patients every day. So, I see it. I see patients, unfortunately, dying from this virus every day… Everybody is out lounging on the beaches. Just thinking that it's over or. And it's not. It's far from being over. And unfortunately, it's those people that keep we'll keep this pandemic going."
From a safe interior hallway, clinical staff monitor patients' vital signs on computers and double-check their oxygen equipment through large windows on the doors that seal off the isolated ICU units.
Registered nurse Trakina Hogan said her daily reminder of how easily the virus can spread from person to person is the constant dawning and doffing of a full set of Personal Protective Equipment required to enter rooms with COVID positive patients.
"This is a real thing. It's not fake. It is definitely one that we need to take serious precautions on," Hogan said. "Keep our mask on, keep our hands washed, and know that we're here for them. We come to work so that we can take care of them, but we need them to take care of themselves and not get relaxed."
Three months after the first coronavirus patients walked into the Fort Washington, the hospital now has a healthy stock of PPE, and is using the latest treatments and procedures for COVID-19, according to Dr. Dixon, who is still wary of the trying times that lie ahead and described the current state at the hospital as 'controlled chaos.'
Registered nurse Jonae Cussaac said most shifts she is constantly on her feet, moving from room to room, and said the coronavirus pandemic is also takes an emotional toll.

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