Unit on the Brink: E4 - The Last Resort

By April, the governor’s stay-at-home directive seemed to be working. New COVID-19 positive cases appeared to be leveling off. But the new rules aimed at keeping everyone safe had also led to tens of thousands of Utahns losing their jobs. The MICU staff anxiously watched TV news stories about large groups of unmasked, undistanced protestors demanding the state re-open for business. Meanwhile, as one extremely sick MICU patient with COVID-19 became eligible for what was “the last resort” technology offered, staff wondered what would happen if the public stopped observing the very measures put in place to keep them safe, and whether some of those very protestors would soon be needing their care.