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Europe reopens but virus patients still overwhelm ICU teams

Nurses Nadia Boudra, left, and Yvana Faro, right, care for a patient inside an operating room now used for unconscious COVID-19 patients at Bichat Hospital, AP-HP, in Paris, Thursday, April 22, 2021. France still had nearly 6,000 critically ill patients in ICUs this week as the government embarked on the perilous process of gingerly easing the country out of its latest lockdown, too prematurely for those on pandemic frontlines in hospitals. President Emmanuel Macron's decision to reopen elementary schools on Monday and allow people to move about more freely again in May, even though ICU numbers have remained stubbornly higher than at any point since the pandemic's catastrophic first wave, marks another shift in multiple European capitals away from prioritizing hospitals. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
Nurses Nadia Boudra, left, and Yvana Faro, right, care for a patient inside an operating room now used for unconscious COVID-19 patients at Bichat Hospital, AP-HP, in Paris, Thursday, April 22, 2021. France still had nearly 6,000 critically ill patients in ICUs this week as the government embarked on the perilous process of gingerly easing the country out of its latest lockdown, too prematurely for those on pandemic frontlines in hospitals. President Emmanuel Macron's decision to reopen elementary schools on Monday and allow people to move about more freely again in May, even though ICU numbers have remained stubbornly higher than at any point since the pandemic's catastrophic first wave, marks another shift in multiple European capitals away from prioritizing hospitals. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly) Nurses Nadia Boudra, left, and Yvana Faro, right, care for a patient inside an operating room now used for unconscious COVID-19 patients at Bichat Hospital, AP-HP, in Paris, Thursday, April 22, 2021. France still had nearly 6,000 critically ill patients in ICUs this week as the government embarked on the perilous process of gingerly easing the country out of its latest lockdown, too prematurely for those on pandemic frontlines in hospitals. President Emmanuel Macron's decision to reopen elementary schools on Monday and allow people to move about more freely again in May, even though ICU numbers have remained stubbornly higher than at any point since the pandemic's catastrophic first wave, marks another shift in multiple European capitals away from prioritizing hospitals. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

By JOHN LEICESTER / Associated Press 6 min read

PARIS (AP) – Cradling the head of the deeply sedated COVID-19 patient like a precious jewel in his hands, Dr. Alexy Tran Dinh steered his intensive-care nurses through the delicate process of rolling the woman off her stomach and onto her back, guiding the team like a dance instructor.

They moved only on Tran Dinh’s count, in unison and with extreme care, because the unconscious patient could die within minutes should they inadvertently rip the breathing tube from her mouth.

“One, two and three – onto the side,” the doctor instructed.

His next order quickly followed: “Onto the back.”

“Perfect,” he concluded when the move was done.