JUDY WOODRUFF: The surge of COVID cases in the U.S. is putting tremendous pressure on
hospitals and health care workers.
More than 100,000 people around the country are now hospitalized because of COVID. That's
double the number compared to the start of November, according to the COVID Tracking
Project. Texas and the Southwest have been particularly struggling with the pandemic.
And that's where Amna Nawaz focuses our attention tonight.
AMNA NAWAZ: Judy, let's look at how this is playing out in the Lone Star State.
More than 9,000 people are hospitalized now, nearly a third in intensive care, and Texas'
death toll is now above 23,000. Things are particularly dire in El Paso, but cases are
spiking across the state, including in and around Houston.
And that is where we find Dr. Richina Bicette of Baylor College of Medicine. She's an emergency
room physician treating COVID patients.
She joins us now.
Dr. Bicette, welcome to the "NewsHour" and thanks for being with us.
We can't be inside the hospitals to see what you see every day. So, take us inside for
a moment. Describe to me what it looks like, what it feels like. And do you have what you
need to do your job right now?
DR. RICHINA BICETTE, Baylor College of Medicine: Well, Amna, that's an interesting question.
Do I have enough ventilators to put people on? Sure. Do I have enough oxygen tanks for
those that need it? Yes. But I don't have the reassurance that, when I go into work,
I'm going to be safe and protected. I don't have the staff that I need to take care of
all of the patients that I'm seeing.
I don't have the questions to all -- the answers to all of the questions that my patients are
asking me because of the large degree of uncertainty that surrounds this disease. So, in terms
of equipment, we may have what we need, but there are still a lot of other things that
we're missing in terms of taking care of COVID patients.
AMNA NAWAZ: Dr. Bicette, we have seen vast disparities in how the virus is playing out
in different communities. We know black and Latino and Native communities have been hit
the hardest. Are you seeing the same thing in Houston?
DR. RICHINA BICETTE: Absolutely.
In the state of Texas, we have a large Hispanic population. You mentioned earlier El Paso.
El Paso County is actually about 82 percent Hispanic. So, definitely, the areas that are
being hit hardest are made up of a lot of these minority communities. African-Americans
and Hispanics are two times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19.
They're about four times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID, and they're almost
three times more likely to die from COVID-19. So this disease is definitely affecting some
communities more than others.
AMNA NAWAZ: Dr. Bicette, do you know why you're seeing cases rising the way that they are
now? Is any of this because of the Thanksgiving travel we saw?
DR. RICHINA BICETTE: I actually don't think we're seeing a spike from Thanksgiving just
yet. And that's actually horrifying.
Just yesterday, we hit over 213,000 new cases of COVID in a single day. And that's without
us having yet to really realize the spike that's coming from Thanksgiving.
I think what's happening is that a lot of people are experiencing pandemic fatigue.
If they have yet to be affected, they think that they can't be affected. So, they're continuing
to go out. They're not social distancing. They're gathering with friends and family
members who are not in the same household. People are not wearing masks. Businesses are
open.
And, as people continue to go out, they continue to get sicker.
AMNA NAWAZ: What about the fatigue among you and your colleagues?
The cases that you see are the worst of the worst. After all these many months, the better
part of the year now treating these patients, what's the cumulative toll, both emotional
and mental?
DR. RICHINA BICETTE: I can't even begin to speak on what people are feeling right now.
It's not just mental. It's not just emotional, but it's physical also. We're putting in long
hours.
There are colleagues of mine that have been out sick for weeks, and some of them months.
And so we're having to pick up the brunt of their shifts and work extra hours because
of that. There's not a shift that I go into the hospital that I don't have to remind staff
members to pull their masks up, or to make sure that they're distancing in the break
room when talking to colleagues.
There's not a shift that a nurse isn't calling me into a room because a patient is argumentative,
and they don't understand why they need to have a mask on.
Aside from pandemic fatigue, I think a lot of medical professionals are exasperated,
because we're seeing people continue to travel. We're seeing people continue to go out and
dine at restaurants. And we know that all of this is contributing to the sickness, to
the death toll, to the hospitalization rate.
And we don't know what else to do to get the public to understand.
AMNA NAWAZ: Dr. Bicette, in just a few seconds left, when you look at what leaders in Texas
and other places are doing, is enough being done to stop and slow the spread of the virus
right now?
DR. RICHINA BICETTE: Absolutely not.
It's not about what the leaders are doing. It's about what they're not doing. There are
still places in Texas where businesses are allowed to operate at 75 percent capacity.
There are still places where bars are open.
"The New England Journal of Medicine," which is probably one of the most respected and
most recognized scientific journals in the world, actually wrote a piece on it called
"Dying in a Leadership Vacuum," where they stated that our leaders have failed us, they
have failed this test, and they have turned crisis into tragedy.
AMNA NAWAZ: Dr. Richina Bicette on the front lines of that tragedy in Houston, Texas, joining
us tonight, thank you for all you do and for joining us tonight.
DR. RICHINA BICETTE: Thank you for having me.