At Madrid field hospital, staff seeks to provide human touch
MADRID — There’s a bookshelf filled with donated novels. Hotel toiletries rest on cardboard boxes turned into bedside tables. Meals are served with personalized notes from the staff. And an army of volunteers do their best to keep up an air of optimism amid the pandemic.
At a cavernous convention center that has become Spain’s largest makeshift hospital, these touches of kindness and camaraderie are helping to make the days and nights more bearable for patients afflicted with COVID-19.
“Despite the distance that we keep from each other, there is a sense of community,” said Jonan Basterra as he waited for the oxygen in his blood to reach a level high enough so he can go home.
The 50-year-old patient dreams about defeating the virus so he can shave off the beard he has grown and celebrate with ice cream. In the meantime, he rests in bed No. 15.18, making friends with others or reading the books that a nurse brought from home and offered in an improvised open library.
“We are all in this together and we are all going to get out of here together,” he told The Associated Press via video call shortly before he was delivered a potato omelet — one of Spain’s national dishes — with a personalized note from the hospital’s makeshift kitchen. The cooks had learned on social media about Basterra’s craving for the food.
US urges masks as dramatic steps to combat virus roll out
NEW YORK — The Trump administration urged Americans to cover their faces in public and limited exports of medical supplies Friday as New York’s governor took his own dramatic step to fight the coronavirus — vowing to seize unused ventilators from private hospitals and companies.
President Donald Trump announced new guidelines that call for everyone to wear makeshift face coverings such as T-shirts and bandannas when leaving the house, especially in areas hit hard by the pandemic, like New York. But the president said he had no intention of following the advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s a recommendation, they recommend it,” Trump said. “I just don’t want to wear one myself.”
The policy change comes amid concerns from health officials that those without symptoms can spread the virus, especially in places like grocery stores or pharmacies. Officials stressed that medical-grade masks should be reserved for health workers and others on the front lines of the pandemic.
In one of the most aggressive steps yet in the U.S. to relieve severe shortages of equipment, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would sign an executive order to take ventilators that aren’t being used.
Shipping tycoon helps Venezuela in quest for gas
CARACAS, Venezuela — With gas lines across Venezuela growing, a controversial shipping magnate has stepped in to prevent the country from running out of fuel amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Associated Press has learned.
The fuel shortage, in the nation that sits atop the world largest crude reserves, is the latest threat to Nicolas Maduro’s rule at a time he is under intense U.S. pressure to resign.
Wilmer Ruperti’s Maroil Trading Inc. billed state-owned oil monopoly PDVSA 12 million euros last month for the purchase of up to 250,000 barrels of 95-octane gasoline, according to a copy of the invoice obtained by AP. The gasoline was purchased from an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, said two people familiar with the transaction. They agreed to discuss the sensitive dealings only on condition of anonymity.
The single gas shipment isn’t going to resolve Venezuela’s supply problems. But with the economy paralyzed, any amount of fuel is welcome relief, analysts said.
Ruperti, a former oil tanker captain, has a history coming to the rescue of Venezuela’s socialist government at critical junctures, something that endeared him to the late President Hugo Chávez.
From wire sources