'We Can't Deal With This Tsunami.' As the Coronavirus Spreads, Hong Kong Medical Workers Feel the Pressure

Benjamin So was mid-way through a 36-hour shift at a Hong Kong hospital when an elderly couple from Wuhan, China was wheeled into the isolation ward at 3 a.m. After the nurse took their vitals and nasal samples to test for the novel coronavirus, he got to work.

Inside the negative pressure chamber, So, a resident in internal medicine, asked the male patient about his symptoms, listened to his chest and reviewed an x-ray scan of his lungs. Then, he did the same with the female.

Around nine hours later, both tests came back positive. The 72-year-old man and 73-year-old woman became the ninth and tenth confirmed coronavirus cases in Hong Kong.

“I was a little shaken when I found out,” So told TIME.

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