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By JOSEPH WILSON and ARITZ PARRA
\nAP News<\/p>\n
MADRID (AP) \u2014 By the time Patricia N\u00fa\u00f1ez\u2019s cough started, she was already familiar with the dreaded dry hacking sound tormenting patients who had for weeks been filling the Madrid emergency ward where she works.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were fed up of hearing it at the hospital, so it was just a matter of time before I would contract it,\u201d said N\u00fa\u00f1ez, a 32-year-old nurse who tested positive for the new coronavirus about a week ago.<\/p>\n
Speaking via video call from her home, N\u00fa\u00f1ez said she is eager to recover, so she can relieve overworked colleagues dealing with a rising wave of patients and dwindling numbers of healthy nurses and doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst thing is that you need to stay at home, worried about infecting relatives, while knowing that you are dearly needed at work,\u201d she told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
The coronavirus is waging a war of attrition against health care workers throughout the world, but nowhere is it winning more battles at the moment than in Italy and in Spain, where protective equipment and tests have been in severely short supply for weeks.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s universal health care system is a source of national pride and often hailed as a reason for its citizens\u2019 legendary longevity, but the outbreak is exposing its shortcomings, some of which are the result of years of budget cuts.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s hospitals are groaning under the weight of the pandemic: Video and photos from two hospitals in the Spanish capital showed patients, many hooked up to oxygen tanks, crowding corridors and emergency rooms. At the 12 de Octubre University Hospital, patients could be seen on the floor as they waited for a bed in recent days. The hospital says the patients have since been accommodated elsewhere.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the number of medical personnel infected was nearly 6,500 nationally, health authorities said, representing 13.6% of the country\u2019s 47,600 total cases and about 1% of the health system\u2019s workforce. At least three health care workers have died.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are collapsing. We need more workers,\u201d said Lidia Perera, a nurse who works with N\u00fa\u00f1ez at Madrid\u2019s Hospital de la Paz, which has 1,000 beds.<\/p>\n
This week, 11 of the hospital\u2019s 14 floors are devoted to caring for those suffering from COVID-19, and there is still not enough room: The patients with less serious cases of the disease are being put in the hospital\u2019s gym or in a large tent outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you had told me three months ago that I would be working in these conditions in Spain, I wouldn\u2019t have believed you,\u201d Perera said, adding that staff at La Paz are only being tested for the virus if they have symptoms. \u201cIf they did (regular testing), they might end up without any workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Widespread infections among health workers reflect the universal difficulty of stemming the spread of the pandemic. But sick health workers do double damage: They add to the toll while also hampering the ability to respond to the crisis. On top of that, they raise the specter of hospitals becoming breeding grounds of infection.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s experience has been reflected elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization\u2019s director-general this week called reports of large number of infections among health workers \u201calarming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if we do everything else right, if we don\u2019t prioritize protecting health workers, many people will die because the health worker who could have saved their lives is sick,\u201d Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists.<\/p>\n
In Italy, where nearly one-tenth of more than 74,000 infections are among medical workers, doctors and nurses have been begging the government daily to provide more masks, gloves and goggles.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t leave us alone: Help us help you,\u201d Dr. Francesca De Gennaro wrote in an open letter, asking for gear. De Gennaro heads a small private medical clinic in hard-hit Bergamo \u2014 where some 90 of 460 workers have tested positive.<\/p>\n
In addition, 33 doctors have died, according to the Italian federation of doctors, although it was not clear if all were in service at the time.<\/p>\n
There was no immediately available data on infections among health care workers in the United States. Neither Iran nor France is disclosing those figures.<\/p>\n
But in China, where the outbreak started and where more than 80,000 people became infected in three months, over 3,000 medical workers were believed to have fallen ill by the end of February, according to Dr. Liang Wannian, the leader of a team of Chinese experts working with WHO to study the outbreak.<\/p>\n
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.<\/p>\n
Spanish authorities have repeatedly said that protecting medical staff is central their efforts to do what\u2019s known as \u201cflattening the curve\u201d: spreading out the time period of over which infections occur, in order to reduce the burden on intensive care units. But health workers say that even simple things such as gowns and masks are still in short supply, as are tests.<\/p>\n