A doctor has said that parents hospitalized with the virus have left their children ‘Covid orphans’ with nobody to care for them due to the rapid spread of Delta. A Sydney doctor has warned of an unfortunate reality for some families hospitalized with Covid-19 – leaving their kids “Covid orphans” with nobody to care for them. After seeing it first hand, Dr. Lucy Morgan, an associate professor at Sydney University and a respiratory physician at Nepean and Concord hospitals, has warned of the harrowing situation.
Since the pandemic began, the medical professionals working on the frontline took to social media with the tragic story. “My Covid wards are full today – full of young tradies, pharmacy staff, wives and mothers and fathers of young children,” she posted. “Everyone has a story of family distress- several have partners in other hospitals leaving their small children to be ‘Covid orphans’ in the children’s hospital because their grandparents are unvaccinated or sick themselves.” NSW’s chief health officer, Dr. Kerry Chant, has repeatedly flagged that entire families are becoming infected with the virus due to the high transmissibility of the Delta strain.
“The picture with Delta is that once it’s introduced to a household, it’s inevitable that everyone gets the Delta strain,” she told a parliamentary hearing on Monday. In an earlier post, Dr. Morgan said all hospitals were “filling up fast” with Covid-19 positive patients. She said they were all unvaccinated and felt “frightened”, “sick,” and “very lonely” because they could not have any visitors. “So many families (are) affected and stressed and fearful and not allowed to visit. “Being vaccinated will reduce your chance of ending up in the hospital and free up some safe space for us to treat lung cancer, deliver babies, manage strokes and heart failure and confusion and falls and all the other things that happen to our families daily.”
Dr. Morgan also pleaded with Australians to get vaccinated. And her experiences were not a one-off. Children’s Hospital at Westmead nurse Hannah Niccol also took to social media to share her experiences with “unaccompanied” children whose parents were hospitalized. “This leaves nurses to not only attend to all clinical needs but try to support these children emotionally in a frightening time,” she posted. “Seeing the effects of young children separated from parents has left staff feeling pretty miserable. On top of that, the anxiety and stress of working with Covid positive patients each day take a toll on us all.” The outbreak in NSW continues to grow, with the state recording 818 new locally acquired cases and three deaths on Monday. Originally published as ‘Covid orphans’ a reality for Sydney families hospitalized with the virus, doctor warns
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