How Business Insider health care reporter Ramsey stays connected

Business Insider deputy executive editor Olivia Oran spoke with health care reporter Lydia Ramsey about her coverage of New York hospital workers caring for COVID-19 patients.

Here is an excerpt:

Oran: What’s an average day for you right now? 

Ramsey: When I first wake up, I make a point to go about a morning routine I call my “commute.” I get our office (kitchen table) set up with my computer, notebook and headphones.

I live in a one-bedroom apartment, which I share with my husband and 70-pound goldendoodle, Junior. I spend my day writing or on the phone, either at the kitchen table or in the bedroom if my husband is also on a call.

During the day, I speak with healthcare workers and administrators to get a sense of what’s going on inside hospitals. The emergency room at one hospital in Manhattan might look totally different from the ER or floor of admitted patients in a hospital in Brooklyn or Queens. Hospitals are also getting creative in how they can build additional space for patients, like setting up intensive-care units in operating rooms, or using places like the lobby of the hospital for additional beds.

I’ve mainly been focused on what’s going on here in NYC and the surrounding metro area. But as the virus spreads, I’ve been spending more time speaking with doctors and nurses based elsewhere to hear what they’re seeing. Some are still early on — their hospitals haven’t seen many cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Others have been attending to patients for weeks. It’s taught me a lot about the prognosis of the disease and what it can look like in its most serious forms.

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