THREE doctors, TWO countries, ONE enemy

Pang was to find a striking similarity between her own tribulations and sadness and of those she had sought to relieve.

"Some lament what is seen as a lack of communication between the US and China in dealing with this global issue. In fact, exchanges between medical professionals on both sides have been going on since January, much facilitated by Chinese doctors who are here on exchange programs, and by those who once pursued their Political and cultural differences have often been cited by people trying to understand the situation. As a doctor, Zhang is keenly aware of constraints inherent in the country's medical system.

"In the US the entire medical system is structured in a way where a patient is first supposed to go to his or her primary care doctors or urgent care doctors as in the case of an emergency. From there they are referred to specialists operating either from their own clinics or in big hospitals, for further examination and any medical procedures. The COVID-19 onslaught ripped through that chain."

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that people "go to see your doctor" at the appearance of COVID-19 symptoms. But by mid-March most primary care doctors in New York had closed their clinics, although some had switched to telemedicine.

Every week Zhang spent three days in her own primary care clinic in Flushing and another one or two days in the HealthNeed Medical Urgent Care, where she met most of her COVID-19 patients.

"Almost all urgent cares have remained open, but you cannot stop staff from resigning, like many working at the front desk of New York urgent care centers did. You can't blame them. Across New York, health care professionals were becoming infected in unprecedented numbers."