But in the midst of the surge, there were no beds. ![]() People still approached a health-care emergency with the expectation that they were going to be taken care of right away. It wasn’t just COVID patients McGowan couldn’t help. “That’s not what any of us signed up for.” “That feels really terrible,” McGowan says. Suddenly, COVID patients were streaming into the ERs at the hospitals where she worked, and she had to tell many patients she was powerless to help them because the few drugs she had didn’t work in late stages of the disease. Then the virus’s Delta variant hit central Oregon with exponential fury, and the delicate balance McGowan had maintained came crashing down. The central Oregon region where McGowan lived-a high desert plateau ringed by snow-capped mountains-had largely escaped the first COVID waves that slammed areas such as New York City. She and her colleagues had adapted to the COVID-causing virus, donning layers of protection before seeing each patient, but they’d managed to keep things running smoothly. ![]() ![]() In early 2021 emergency room physician Torree McGowan hoped the worst of the pandemic was behind her.
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