"We were taking people to die on their own": Paramedic's horrific account of working during peak

1 August 2020, 16:53

Paramedic explains what it was like to work through coronavirus peak

This paramedic said she hadn't even told her family how bad things were during the coronavirus peak, before telling her story.

Samantha is a paramedic and she spoke to Matt Stadlen about her experience during the coronavirus pandemic treating the public. Matt wanted to know "how bad was it at the height of the pandemic," and the caller said "I haven't even told my family how bad it was."

"We've literally been taking people out to die on their own," she said. Samantha admitted that "it was terrible for a while," but it isn't as bad now.

The caller worried that we could see a situation as bad as before if people don't listen to government advice.

She referenced the anger of many British Muslims who have had plans for Eid dashed after a rise in coronavirus cases sparked a flurry of local lockdowns in the North of England.

"if during Eid lots and lots of families are travelling from everywhere to other households...we're going to have a massive massive spike again," she warned.

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Samantha went on to tell Matt that there were times during lockdown where she would visit a house one day and a person wouldn't be in a bad enough condition to be admitted to hospital. "We'd go back two days later and they're either dead or we bring them to ICU," she revealed.

Matt was shocked by the stories that the paramedic had to tell. He told her it was shocking to hear her talk about the "extreme ends" of this disease.

Looking ahead, Samantha feared that we're going to see a lot of NHS staff diagnosed with mental health problems because of the pandemic.