Danny Kim is many things: a photographer, a paramedic, a husband—and, now, one of the workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kim kept a visual record of a recent week in his shoes, recording the harrowing work of a paramedic at the epicenter of New Jersey’s coronavirus outbreak by photographing intubations, house calls and everything in between.
Paul Moakley, TIME’s editor-at-large for special projects, worked with Kim to bring his diary to life, debriefing his days on the job. “The last day’s interview just killed me,” Moakley says. Earlier that day, Kim had found a 39-year-old man lying in bed, apparently dead. Pronouncing people dead is a grim part of every paramedic’s job, but one Kim says he tries to approach with as much compassion as possible. COVID-19 has made that effort—and so many others—nearly impossible, Kim told Moakley.
“I’m alone in this room wearing all this plastic PPE gear—an N95 mask, a surgical mask and then goggles and another plastic shield on top of everything, and then a full body apron and two pairs of gloves. I’m just this completely sealed figure saying like, ‘Hey, your father’s dead,’” Kim said. “For me it comes off very cold.”
One hundred days ago today, the World Health Organization (WHO) learned that a “pneumonia with unknown cause” was beginning to spread in China. Since then, the virus has infected more than 1.5 million people across the globe and killed nearly 90,000, fundamentally altering our world in the process.
Countries around the world continue to operate in various stages of lockdown in an effort to keep those numbers from rising more. But public health experts are worried that in some places, not enough is being done. For example, experts in Sweden—which has taken a notably lax approach to containment, urging only the especially vulnerable to stay home—are concerned that a severe outbreak may be coming.
Meanwhile, tensions between WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the government of Taiwan came to a head this week, after Tedros claimed Taiwanese leaders were behind what he described as months of racist attacks against him. Taiwanese officials denied the accusation, and claimed it had not received crucial information about how to respond to the crisis—which Tedros in turn said was untrue.
Here is every country with over 10,000 confirmed cases, as of Wednesday night, 8 PM eastern time:
The Situation in the United States
Nearly 450,000 people in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19, and almost 15,000 have died from it as of April 8.
U.S. officials are struggling to strike a balance between reopening the country and keeping its residents safe. Even as the federal government rolled out a new plan for getting essential workers who have been exposed to COVID-19 but are not sick back on the job, coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci stressed earlier this week that the return to normal will be long and slow. “It isn’t like a light switch on and off,” Fauci said, “it’s a gradual pulling back on certain of the restrictions to try and get society a bit back to normal.”
That long, slow process is what’s required for public-health stability, but Americans continue to feel the squeeze, according to newly published survey data from progressive think tank Data for Progress. The group polled about 2,600 likely U.S. voters on April 5 and 6, and found that a third have already lost their jobs or had their hours reduced as a result of COVID-19.
Nearly half of black respondents said their work has been scaled back. And the majority of those surveyed said payouts from the government’s stimulus package would cover household expenses for only a month or less.
All numbers are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of April 8, 8 PM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Today, we’re featuring stories from this week’s issue of TIME, a special report called “Heroes from the Front Lines,” which looks at the toll the COVID-19 pandemic is taking on health care workers ranging from ER physicians to home health aides, as well as other essential workers still clocking in every day.
‘This Could Be the Last Thing I Do on Earth’
A few months ago, Dr. Stanley Berry was thinking about retiring and finishing his novel. Now, the 66-year-old obstetrician is volunteering to help in Detroit’s overburdened emergency rooms. Read Berry’s story here.
Thinking Outside the Hospital
The COVID-19 front lines extend far beyond doctor’s offices and ambulances. Grocery clerks, delivery people, social workers, cafeteria employees and many, many others are still reporting for duty. Read their stories here.
‘It’s Tough to Reconcile Being Both Celebrated and Villainized’
COVID-19 has ushered in an ugly wave of anti-Asian racism at the same time it has inspired unprecedented respect for health care workers. As a result, New York City physician Dr. Chen Fu is living a strange double life. Read Fu’s story here.
Riding Along with Medic 61
TIME national correspondent Charlotte Alter spent a day with Westchester County, N.Y. paramedic Alanna Badgley—who goes by the radio call sign “Medic 61”—as she took 11 emergency calls. Nine, Alter reports, were for suspected cases of COVID-19. Read Badgley’s story here.
‘My Husband and Children Didn’t Sign Up to Get Sick’
New Orleans nurse Laurie Halbrook knew what she was getting into when she trained to become a nurse. But her husband and two young children never signed up for the risks associated with her job—and she’s left to wrestle with the guilt. Read Halbrook’s story here.
He Survived Ebola. Coronavirus Still Scares Him
New York City emergency medicine physician Dr. Craig Spencer contracted and survived Ebola during the 2014 outbreak. But as he tells TIME staff writer Melissa Chan, COVID-19 is a different beast entirely. Read Spencer’s story here.
How to Help Front Line Workers
TIME has compiled and vetted a list of organizations contributing to COVID-19 relief. Consider contributing, if you have money to spare. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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