Los Angeles, UNITED STATES
The Wider Image: A pregnant doctor navigates COVID-19 fight in low income LA
After putting a coronavirus patient onto a ventilator to help him to breathe, Dr. Zafia Anklesaria noted to herself that her baby never kicked during emergency procedures. It was not until she was back in her office and had removed most of her protective equipment that he made his presence known. Anklesaria is seven months pregnant with her first child. The 35-year works as a co-director of the intensive care unit at CommonSpirit's Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center, a downtown Los Angeles hospital that mostly serves lower-income Hispanic and African-American populations. The hospital's 22-bed COVID-19 intensive care unit has been at or close to capacity since the end of March. Some nurses are pulling 24-hour shifts due to the high volume of patients in critical condition, she said. "The socio-economic class that we serve, people tend to live in close quarters, they don't really have the privilege of good social distancing, and they are tending to get more infected as a result," Anklesaria said. People living in the highest poverty areas of Los Angeles county are dying of COVID-19 at more than twice the rate of those in the wealthiest areas, according to data from the county's department for public health. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson SEARCH "PREGNANT DOCTOR COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Matching Text: HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/DOCTOR-PREGNANT TEMPLATE OUT
