In less than an hour, `Code 99` from the alarm system of Brooklyn University Hospital, part of SUNY Downstate Medical University, New York, rang up to five times, dispatching doctors and nurses for emergency resuscitation

`They’re so sick that you can lose them in a split second,` Eason said.

That’s what nCoV is doing to thousands of Americans and possibly thousands more.

In fact, the number of people being transported to the emergency room (ER) is lower now than before the Covid-19 outbreak, but because patients are all infected with nCoV, their condition is more severe, the death rate is higher

`It’s not the hospital, it’s the nature of the disease,` said emergency physician Lorenzo Paladino.

Inside Brooklyn University Hospital, part of SUNY Downstate Medical University, New York.

These days, there are no patients with broken bones or stomach pain.

Doctors also don’t have time to rest.

Of nearly 400 people treated for Covid-19 at Brooklyn University Hospital, 90% are over 45 years old, 60% are over 65 years old.

`We’re treating a number of young men over 20 years old who have never seen this scene, they are dazed and just crying,` Mr. Paladino said of the patients in the emergency room.

Meanwhile, doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and medical staff must stay calm to save patients.

They have never faced such a situation: too many people having difficulty breathing, alarm bells ringing constantly, the patient survival rate is low because Covid-19 progresses too quickly and dangerously.

`You can have two emergency codes on a bad shift, and that feeling sticks with you and you wonder if you did everything you could,` Benson said.

94 people have died from complications related to Covid-19 at SUNY Downstate since the outbreak began three weeks ago.

`A patient’s son called me the other day and said his father was 80 years old, and he knew he was going to die and was sad because he was going to die alone,` Rolston said.

The scene inside SUNY Downstate, an eight-story public hospital, resembles a war zone, a stark contrast to the outside world, where people obey `stay at home` orders.

`Three weeks ago, my life was pretty normal and this happened overnight,` said Dr. Robert Foronjy, chief of SUNY Downstate’s pulmonology department, who lives just 10 blocks from the hospital.

The most serious patients need to be placed on a ventilator, an expensive and complex machine that is very important in the fight against nCoV.

He is one of those who is researching the possibility of improving a ventilator to be able to simultaneously support two patients in certain circumstances.

`It’s a temporary solution for a few hours, 12 hours, until a hospital in the area gets us a few more ventilators or until the equipment arrives,` he said.

Eason, chair of the respiratory therapy department, said ventilators are complex and if not installed properly will produce different results.

Respiratory therapist Julie Eason, Brooklyn College Hospital.

Governor Cuomo directed all hospitals in New York state to expand the number of beds by at least 50%.

The tents are usually reminiscent of a military base in a war zone, but now, they are in the middle of a residential area, surrounded by rows of houses.

`We’re really applying a lot of tactics from military medicine in this medical disaster,` SUNY Downstate president Wayne Riley said.

Hospital employees are working overtime and vacations and personal leaves are canceled.

`They are putting themselves and their families at risk to care for our patients,` said Dr. Mafuzur Rahman, who assigns positions in the hospital.

Medical staff at SUNY Downstate are also doing their best, even though there is little knowledge about the new virus, and many treatment methods have never been applied.

`I saw desperation, helplessness in their eyes. They wanted to do the best they could,` Rahman said.

After long, stressful, and difficult shifts, most medical staff do not dare to hug and kiss their loved ones.

`I wore a mask and looked at them from afar and waved my hands, 6 meters or more apart to make sure they were not affected,` Mr. Paladino said about his family.

This scene has now become normal at SUNY Downstate and they want colleagues in cities like Chicago and Detroit, which are expected to be the next Covid-19 hot spots, to prepare for this disaster.

`Get ready, because what you think is the worst day is yet to come,` Ms Eason warned.

Dr. Wayne Riley, president of SUNY Downstate Hospital.

The US currently records more than 330,000 cases of nCoV infection, of which more than 9,600 people have died, continuing to be the largest epidemic area in the world.

So many people died and died so quickly that SUNY Downstate hospital had to park two refrigerated trucks outside to store bodies because the morgue was overloaded.

`This must be the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Because when a natural disaster occurs, we know what we’re going to expect. Here, everything just keeps going non-stop,` said the person in charge of the house.

To those who have died, medical staff try to give them their last respects.

Anh Ngoc (According to CNN)