US Coronavirus Update: Emergency Room Doctor Describes 'Scary' Battle With COVID-19

Previously unnamed doctor, Ryan Padgett, was in critical condition only last month. Now, he's sharing his personal battle against COVID-19 from his time as an emergency room doctor in Washington state, to contracting the dreaded virus and his journey to recovery.

Padgett, 45, worked at the EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland. According to Fox News, about 15 people already died in the hospital due to novel coronavirus or its symptoms even way back in mid-March. This was during a time when Washington was described to be the “epicenter” of COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

The doctor is already home and resting, trying to gain strength. He has described having contacted the virus as “very scary.” He warned people that not only the immune-compromised are at risk; he said that even young people, at the peak of their health, can be taken down by the virus if they are not careful.

At first, his symptoms were just a simple headache and muscle soreness. Only a few days after, he realized he had difficulty breathing. That’s the time when his fiancé, Connie Kinsley, advised him to go to the hospital where he was given a ventilator to help him breathe.

This is only one of the many reasons why staffers are called to monitor their health. In New York, however, the lack of medical personnel may have led to coronavirus-exposed staff to continue working. Based on the city's health department guidelines, hospital doctors and personnel "are being advised to continue going to work even if they have had high-risk exposure to a patient with a confirmed case of coronavirus," The Guardian reported.

Naturally, this rule has been met with skepticism and alarm among those in the medical community. Most of the medical professionals who have read this rule are concerned that this is only going to spread the virus faster than help. It may also put more lives at risk, especially people whose immune systems are weak.

As of early Tuesday, the cases of COVID-19 in the US has jumped to 554,849 positive cases, with a total of 21,942 deaths. As for Padgett, he shared that just surviving coronavirus could do a whole lot of change in a person’s perspective.