“We are at War!”
Chareidi Professor’s Coronavirus Warning to the Whole World
Prominent Chabad Chossid, Professor Eliyahu Sorkin, director of the Intensive Care Unit at Maaynei Hayeshua Hospital, Bnei Brak, has issued a serious warning that the coronavirus witnessed now is not just ‘another disease’. In a full length interview with the Hebrew language newspaper Makor Rishon, he describes what is happening in the ICU, where, he says, many patients are currently being treated, including young people, who have found themselves in difficult situations. “Corona damage is now completely different from what we saw in the first wave,” he said, stressing that the hundreds of patients of the past three months are more severely ill than those he saw until June. “What Europe saw with the virus in the first wave we know now. I do not know whether it is the same corona or whether the virus has mutated but there is no doubt that it does damage. We see very serious damage that we did not know about at the beginning of the disease.
At the beginning of the epidemic, patients arrived at the hospital with relatively mild respiratory difficulties and secondary health damage, and after respiratory assistance they were able to recover and return to life, with no severe clinical side effects. Now, however, the picture has changed alarmingly. “We see a completely different condition. The aggravated lung disease is unequivocally more complex and is manifested in the need for a long artificial respiration of a month, a month and a half and more. This did not manifest in our lung diseases of the past. In addition, we notice a kind of ‘scar’ in both lungs which leads to clinical damage of them and we do not yet know whether it is reversible damage or irreparable damage. This disease leads to the need for rapid respiration and a decrease in the levels of oxidation and ventilation in the blood.”
Along with breathing and health problems, Prof. Sorkin notes that in almost all cases there is a link between health damage and kidney damage in corona patients. “Questions about the virus’ damage are only growing,” he notes in frustration. “At first we saw that it damages blood vessel cells and it was common to give huge amounts of blood thinners to prevent hypercoagulability and embolism to the lungs and brain and more. I’ve been treating patients for 50 years and I don’t remember such a reality.”
According to a report by the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center, the number of seriously ill patients in Israel continues to rise sharply – about 70 percent in the last month, and more than 10 times that in the last three months. According to the increase in new infections, especially among those aged 60 and over, it appears that it is expected to continue to grow significantly in the near future. At the same time, hospitals are reporting that they are approaching the threshold of their capacity.
What is most shocking according to Prof. Sorkin, is that the age of the patients is dropping. “We are seeing more and more young people whom we cannot disconnect from oxygen. Young people in their 40s without any underlying illnesses, whom we try as much as possible to prevent from using artificial respiration devices, but they cannot move or make any effort without breathing help. I hope it is a temporary disability. “
This is a time of war, he emphasizes, and we must now focus on fighting the virus. “We are dealing with this virus under unreasonable conditions. The whole country should be like in a state of war. Whoever can help should help and whoever cannot, should at least not interfere. You must wear a mask properly and wash your hands and keep a distance. It is so sad to see these things. The population in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem have the highest percentage of cases. You cannot remain impassive.”
What gets the professor most upset are the so-called ‘experts’ who try to reassure the public and say that there is nothing to fear. He accuses the “experts who disagree and each has his ‘smart’ explanations about the virus.” “They are not seeing the reality on the ground. Those who are at the forefront, the doctors from intensive care, are witnesses to the situation and the danger we face. “We are at war. During a war, you are silent and fight.”
