NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Over a year ago, a Mount Sinai emergency room doctor diagnosed New York City’s first known case of coronavirus.
The first case of COVID-19 was in a woman, known as “patient zero,” who had just traveled back to New York City from Iran, where cases were high.
The woman suspected she may have the virus and immediately entered quarantine after a positive diagnosis was given to her by Dr. Angela Chen at Mount Sinai.
Now, over a year later, that same doctor tells WCBS 880’s Marla Diamond diagnosing that first case was terrifying.
“We started asking questions and as we were asking, it was kind of one of those things— you knew the answer and it was exactly what you didn't want it to be. We were scared… we were scared,” she said. “At this point, we had so little information about the virus and we didn't know how contagious it was.”
After diagnosing that first case, Dr. Chen would go on to spend the next four months in Brooklyn on the frontlines fighting the virus.
“We really saw just an incredible spike in our COVID numbers. More frighteningly so, we didn't know the variability that this disease could present with,” she said.
Chen says over that time period, she treated hundreds of patients and watched many succumb to the virus. The doctor particularly remembered one woman who was able to connect with family via video chat in her final moments.
“They took their phone to her favorite beach as a child and she passed away,” Dr. Chen said. “And I thought to myself how tragic this was that it robbed so many people of so much time with their loved one and so many experiences… and that that one was really, really, really hard for me.”
Chen herself experienced her own hardships during those early days as she was fearful of bringing the virus home to her 1-year-old son and had to send him to live with his grandparents in New Jersey.
“It's so many firsts and milestones that I felt like I couldn't be there for,” she says of the decision.
Chen credits her coworkers for helping her persevere through a year she says she’ll never forget.
Now, over a year later, she says she is grateful to see far fewer and less severe cases, noting that she can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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