Almost 600 front-line healthcare workers in the United States have now died from suspected COVID-19, including several in the radiology community, according to a tally shared Saturday.
That number, from Kaiser Health News, represents hundreds more deaths than the 379 estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 72,000 healthcare workers in the U.S. have tested positive for the disease, but the CDC could only determine death status for about 60% of that population.
KHN has published profiles of 105 of the workers whose deaths have been confirmed by its reporters. Those include 74-year-old Brooklyn radiologist David Wolin; Miami radiologic technologist Devin Francis, 44; Staten Island urgent care rad tech Matthew Moore; and Brooklyn radiology clerk Thomas Soto, 59.
Soto had worked for more than 30 years at Woodhull Medical Center, one of New York’s busiest public hospitals, and was looking forward to retirement. He loved his job, KHN reported, and would often greet imaging patients in the ED before they received care.
“Everybody saw him before their x-rays,” 29-year-old son Jesse Soto said. “He smiled all day, made jokes. He was a kind man.”
Soto did not have proper protective equipment when COVID started overwhelming local emergency departments. Though he eventually received a mask, he became very ill, was admitted to Woodhull and eventually died on April 7.
Personal protective equipment shortages continue to plague physician practices, particularly those that are not based in hospitals. Such dangers are also why the American College of Radiology and several other imaging societies have pushed legislation that would grant hazard pay to radiologists, technologists and other members of the care team.
“As we continue to face unprecedented challenges battling COVID-19, it’s been incredible to experience the unwavering display of strength, compassion and wisdom by members of our radiology community,” Howard Fleishon, MD, chairman of ACR’s Board of Chancellors, said in a recent blog post.
Read more from Kaiser Health News below.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.