An ICU nurse confronts Year 3 of the pandemic
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2022
⏱️ 32 minutes
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Summary
As we enter Year 3 of the pandemic, we check back in with intensive care unit nurse Jessica Montanaro, whom we first met in 2021. Now sick with covid and facing a ticking clock on her return to work, she reflects on the past year and the present struggles of her profession.
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Last year we brought you the story of Jessica Montanaro, an intensive care unit nurse from New York City who found herself battling exhaustion and grief as New York became the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and she cared for wave after wave of patients.
Today, we’re going back to Montanaro. Producer Bishop Sand reached out to her earlier this year to see how she was faring as we approached Year 3 of the pandemic. He discovered that Montanaro was sick with covid.
Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and New York state had shortened their recovery recommendations for health-care workers sick with the coronavirus, Montanaro was expected back at work after just five days — something she was not happy about.
During her recovery, she talked to Sand daily. She shared stories of her struggles as a nurse over the past year and described her efforts to address the critical staffing shortages that have affected her team and profession as a whole.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Martine. It's Friday, April 1st. And today we have a special show lined up for you. |
| 0:09.6 | Last year we brought you the story of Jessica Montanaro, an ICU nurse from New York City, |
| 0:15.1 | who found herself battling exhaustion and grief as New York became the epicenter of the pandemic, |
| 0:21.2 | and she cared for wave after wave of patience. Today we're going back to Jessica to see how she's |
| 0:28.4 | doing and how things have changed for her after a full two years on the front line of the pandemic. |
| 0:36.0 | This story is brought to you by producer Bishop Sand, who reached out to Jessica earlier this year, |
| 0:41.6 | only to discover that she herself was sick with COVID. Okay, here's Bishop. |
| 0:51.6 | I reconnected with Jessica back in January on a Thursday. |
| 0:54.7 | Hey Bishop, don't get scared by my voice. |
| 0:58.9 | Oh, my God, look at her, are you off? |
| 1:04.7 | Two days before that, she had tested positive for COVID. |
| 1:07.8 | Well, it's Monday night probably not feeling great, and then today definitely not feeling good. |
| 1:13.7 | Took an apple, got a fever, and immediately I was like, oh yeah, there's no doubt in my mind, |
| 1:18.9 | you know, and then I got tested. |
| 1:21.6 | What was it? Why was it no doubt in your mind? |
| 1:24.8 | Just because once you have a fever, I think, you know, I think that's like the right flag. |
| 1:30.4 | She had severe fatigue. She was coughing and couldn't take a full breath, |
| 1:35.2 | but she wasn't headed to the hospital for reasons that we'll get into in a minute. |
| 1:43.1 | Jessica couldn't pinpoint exactly how she'd gotten COVID. |
| 1:46.0 | Maybe the virus was floating around at her daughter's volleyball match, or at her husband's |
| 1:52.0 | Pizzeria in the Bronx, or it could have been from a surge of patients in her ICU at Mount |
| 1:57.0 | Sinai Morningside in Manhattan. The umacron wave had just hit its peak. |
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