Credit: Jeff Rhode/Holy Name Medical Center
March 19, 2020: Ranvir Singh, RN, cares for a patient in the intensive care unit at Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck.
Like something from science fiction, 2020 was upended by a minute, spike-crowned virus that spread aggressively among people, caused unprecedented disease and death, and altered the way we do everything from celebrate holidays to vote for president.
The novel coronavirus put immense stress on all our public structures, but the impact was particularly profound for health care systems nationwide and in New Jersey, which was among the first states to diagnose cases of COVID-19 the disease caused by the virus and which remains among those hardest-hit by the pandemic.
Originally published on December 24, 2020 4:22 pm
The people in the yellow hazmat suits arrived at St. Joseph s Senior Home in Woodbridge, N.J., on a crisp morning in late March, emerging from blue and white ambulance buses all suited up, like astronauts descending from a lunar rover.
For the 78 residents whom they had come to evacuate on March 25, however, this all felt more like an alien abduction. As the hazmats approached, some residents shouted and furiously clawed at the air; others begged not to be taken away, clutching the nuns sleeves, dissolving into tears.
The sisters who ran St. Joseph s told the residents families later they d never seen anything like it. People were loaded up like cattle, said one person who saw the events unfold. It was horrible. . When I close my eyes, even today, I still see it.
For the 78 residents of St. Joseph s Senior Home in New Jersey, the arrival of hazmat-suited officials in March in their caravan of ambulance buses was terrifying. Some evacuees with dementia shouted and furiously clawed at them. Others begged not to be taken away. Seth Wenig/AP
toggle caption Seth Wenig/AP
For the 78 residents of St. Joseph s Senior Home in New Jersey, the arrival of hazmat-suited officials in March in their caravan of ambulance buses was terrifying. Some evacuees with dementia shouted and furiously clawed at them. Others begged not to be taken away. Seth Wenig/AP
The people in the yellow hazmat suits arrived at St. Joseph s Senior Home in Woodbridge, N.J., on a crisp morning in late March, emerging from blue and white ambulance buses all suited up, like astronauts descending from a lunar rover.
By
For the 78 residents of St. Joe s, the arrival of hazmat-suited officials in their caravan of ambulance buses was terrifying. Some evacuees with dementia shouted and furiously clawed at them. Others begged not to be taken away. (Seth Wenig/AP)
The people in the yellow hazmat suits arrived at St. Joseph’s Senior Home in Woodbridge, N.J., on a crisp morning in late March, emerging from blue and white ambulance buses all suited up, like astronauts descending from a lunar rover.
For the 78 residents whom they had come to evacuate on March 25th, however, this all felt more like an alien abduction. As the hazmats approached, some residents shouted and furiously clawed at the air; others begged not to be taken away, clutching the nuns’ sleeves, dissolving into tears.