[Marrus] After 5 days of use, it’s finally become compromised to the point it can no longer function. The inside is grimy, but I decided to give it up after blood had gotten on it. As for the nurses, they’re being forced to store their single N95s in paper bags, with their names written in permanent marker, kept by the house supervisor… I have these masks only because of the frequent wildfires—I brought some masks home with me—otherwise I would not have any, at all.
Sarah called out sick tonight. This is her third time calling out this month and she has been sick for just as long. She never calls out—even when her father was in the ICU, she still chose to come to work. Has a high pain tolerance, and insists on working through whatever ails her. This is all very concerning. [This town] has the highest number of confirmed cases in the county. And her friend was in China at the onset of the outbreak; when she returned, they were both in close physical contact. Or she could have even contracted it here in this hospital. Sarah is in the high-risk population—due to her hypothyroidism, she is morbidly obese.
…Adipose tissue produces much more ACE2 enzymes than lung tissue; all or almost all the young (under 50) critical patients have been obese. The virus binds very effectively to this enzyme. It’s also produced in large quantities by tumours of certain cancers… Radiologists in Italy noticed in February the signature “ground glass” opacities in the lungs of cancer patients coming in for routine full-body scans, most of them asymptomatic, or presenting only a mild fever. I’ve told Simone to exercise caution for the same reason. If she goes…
[Anatolij] It's morbid, I would like not to consider it. But she could very well die from this infection. And […] her death would financially cripple us.