This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

We're broadcasting from my place this week, and just like

millions of people, we're working from home. And we're the lucky ones. Closures and quarantines have

absolutely swept the nation last week. Schools, restaurants, small businesses, you name it.

Many are already out of work, and many more are worried about being out of work soon.

And in so many industries, people are working at jobs where they don't necessarily feel safe.

Hospitals across the world are already beginning to come under tremendous strain as the number of cases goes up and up.

And although the United States is behind China and Italy,

in some places we're beginning to feel the strain already. Dr. Arya Nashat is an ER doctor in

Portland, Oregon, preparing for the flood of COVID-19 patients they've been seeing in neighboring Washington.

Dr. Nishat, hello, how are you? I'm good. Thanks so much for calling.

Well, we're reaching you early in the morning on the West Coast. What's it like to be working in an

ER right now? Well, to be honest, we are expecting the rush to come in probably in the next five to ten days. Right now it feels very

much like the calm before the storm. And what kind of preparations do you make during the calm

before the storm? What can you do? Well, the data from China and Italy is obviously very

disturbing. And the number one thing that Americans can do right now is shelter in place. We know that

people are walking around and are probably COVID positive and don't even realize it because

they either have no symptoms or have very mild symptoms. Right now in Oregon, we're very limited

in terms of our testing capabilities. Everybody is trying to ramp that up. But right now,

we're only able to

test those people who are truly acutely ill and hospitalized. Are you talking to colleagues in

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