Vulnerable Border Community Battles Virus on ‘A Straight Up Trajectory’
EDINBURG, Texas — On a sweltering day last week near the southern tip of Texas, where high rates of poverty and chronic illness have heightened the ferocity of the coronavirus, Dr. Renzo Arauco Brown made his rounds, checking on patients who were facing severe complications from the virus and barely hanging on to life.
The now-chaotic special infectious disease unit where he works has been clobbered with new admissions in recent weeks. Clinicians sweat under layers of protective gear and yell over constantly blaring alarms.
Standing over a 63-year-old man whose lungs were taking in dangerous amounts of oxygen from a ventilator, Dr. Brown ordered medication to paralyze the man in hopes it would fix the problem. But it was one of many. The man had also suffered a severe stroke and blood clots because of the virus.
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