‘Hospitals are busting at the seams here’: Local nurse battling COVID-19 pandemic at Florida ICU

A Pittsburgh native, who is a nurse in an intensive care unit in Florida, is on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her family, who still lives in Pittsburgh, is praying for her health and safety as she treats patients in one of the worst hotspots for coronavirus in the country.

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Bacon said she has seen an alarming number of young people in the ICU, and those who are discharged have a long recovery process.

“Hospitals are busting at the seams here,” said Angela Bacon. “We have 25 and 28-year-olds who can’t walk up three steps without getting winded, and they are two months out of their COVID diagnosis.”

Bacon said since the pandemic reached her area of Florida, every intensive care unit filled up in one weekend. And the growing number of coronavirus cases in Florida is alarming.

According to Bacon, not enough is being done to slow the spread of COVID-19, especially in Florida.

She wears layers of protective gear. Bacon told Channel 11 that some of the hospitals she works at provide an N-95 mask where the filter can be changed out, but some don’t.

“Some of the other hospitals don’t have that available that I’ve worked at, so we are re-using the regular green N-95 masks a couple times a week -- which is bad business,” Bacon said.

Bacon is hoping her family in Pittsburgh doesn’t have to experience what is happening in Florida. For that reason, she said she can’t come visit just yet.

“For me it’s tougher because I don’t see an end in sight here,” she said. “I have no idea when this is going to get better for us down here.”

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Cox Media Group