One of the areas in the United States that has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic is the state of New York.
Former UFC fighter Philippe Nover is now a registered nurse and is working in hospitals that are helping people affected by the virus, with Nover saying that the pandemic is spreading rapidly.
“Things just kind of turned upside down in a matter of days and weeks,” Nover said to MMA Fighting. “I’d say New York City was quite ill prepared. Especially as you can see with the personal protective equipment (PPE), which is the masks, gowns, the N95 masks. Initially, there was a lot of issues providing enough for the medical staff. Having enough tests, which only in the last week I would say, we were actually able to test within the hospital. I mean this pandemic is spreading so rapidly and there was only one hospital in Long Island, N.Y. that was able to actually test in the hospital. It took three days even to get the results and that was as of a week or 10 days ago. Now we’re moving quick where we’re testing people, but we still don’t have enough tests.”
A report from NJ.com reveals that there is a total of 75,795 coronavirus cases in the state of New York, with 1,550 people passing due to the virus.
The former UFC star talks about a time when a person suffering a heart attack was placed near coronavirus victims at a New York hospital.
“Last week, I had a patient who had a legitimate heart attack, we went in and put a stent in and there’s no ICU bed,” Nover said. “The ICU units are full of COVID-19 patients. On top of that, I wouldn’t really want my relative to be in an ICU after just having a heart attack being next to a patient who has COVID-19 and it’s spreading like wildfire. There’s a cross contamination issue. It’s a mess in New York. It’s quickly spreading and it’s manageable, but at some point, it won’t be manageable unless these numbers come down.”
Nover hasn’t competed in over three years, with his last bout being a split decision loss to Rick Glenn at UFC 208.
