Houston ICUs 'like a war zone' amid COVID surge, doctor says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The suffering and death associated with the COVID-19 pandemic often play out behind closed doors. Sick patients fight to recover in hospital beds. Doctors and nurses see their pain up close.

Dr. George Williams is an associate professor at McGovern Medical School at UT Health. He treats COVID-19 patients inside an area hospital's intensive care unit. Williams spoke candidly about the experience and said if people got a real look at the pandemic, they would get vaccinated.

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"The procedures, the needles in the neck, the breathing tubes, lying on someone's face with a whole bunch of us turning them on their face for 18 hours a day to try to get their lungs better and seeing the swelling from that, all the complications," Williams said. "If people could see that, if laws allowed us to take cameras and plant them in the ICU. For you to see what I get to see, I'm certain more than 98% of people would say, 'I don't want that to happen to me. I'm going to do something simple like take a vaccine.'"

Williams said sick patients have asked for the vaccine, but staff must then explain it is too late.

SEE ALSO: Houston hospital says 'if you're not on death's door,' you'll likely have to wait for a room

"It's not the flu," said Dr. Williams. "COVID-19 is a disease all in itself. It's almost like experiencing a conflict or a war zone to see what happens in a COVID-19 ICU. You don't want that to happen to you."

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