'You see a lot of suffering, but can do very little': Italian nurse bursts into tears describing Covid-19 struggle to RT´s Ruptly

The battle against the coronavirus is tough on medical staffs, not only physically but emotionally as well, as they witness so much suffering, an Italian nurse told RT’s Ruptly video agency.

The number of those infected keeps rising, which only increases pressure on the health workers, Francesca Rovati of Guglielmo Da Saliceto Hospital in Piacenza, the city at the heart of Italy’s Covid-19 outbreak, said.

Rovati said she almost went deaf from the sound made by the oxygen cylinders for patients suffering from respiratory failure due to the disease. And there’s not enough of this equipment for everybody who needs oxygen therapy. “The wait for a bed is at times longer than expected,” she told Ruptly.

But treating coronavirus patients isn’t only about dealing with respiratory failure – it’s “also not easy to deal with the patient from an emotional point of view,” she said.

The worst thing is that you see a lot of suffering. Many people who are sick, many people who are alone. And you can do very little.

The nurse, who has worked at the hospital for 13 years, couldn’t hold back the tears while recounting the situation at the hospital. “Before being health workers, we are also daughters, we are mothers, parents. The human side is there, it is felt, it’s strong.”

Apart from that, staff members are also under constant risk of becoming infected themselves, Rovati said. “We are living a very stressful time because we live day by day… We don’t go beyond knowing what shift we have tomorrow. This is because even among us someone might result positive [to Covid-19] or not feel well.”

She called on everyone, especially young people, to stop underestimating the danger of the coronavirus. Elderly people are at a higher risk, of course, but Covid-19 doesn’t have a “fixed age,” and there are “many” middle-aged as well.

Despite the tireless efforts of medical professionals, Italy remains the worst hit by the coronavirus in Europe. Another 345 people died of the disease in the country on Tuesday – 26 of them in Piacenza. The overall death toll in Italy has surpassed 2,500, with over 31,500 infected.

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