BRONX, N.Y. - Montefiore Medical Center’s emergency department, located in the Bronx, ranked among the busiest in the country before the pandemic.

Dr. David Esses, Vice Chair of Montefiore Medical Center’s Emergency Department, Moses Division, says it was not uncommon to see stretchers lined up in the hallways with people needing treatment.

But with the COVID outbreak, the hospital could not allow COVID and non-COVID patients to be exposed to each other. He says the department expanded capacity by building tents for COVID patients outside and setting up COVID units throughout the building. The hospital turned an auditorium into a COVID treatment unit. They also converted the pediatric floors into adult floors for COVID patients.

After roughly two months of treating cases, Dr. Esses says the medical community is still learning how to contain this deadly virus that seems to be very different than any outbreak he’s ever seen.

“It seems we don’t know a lot about it still,” Dr. Esses said. “We are not 100-percent sure how people are even getting it. Why are healthcare workers getting it? Is it because it is in the air? Is it because you’re touching your face when your hands are dirty. Why is this happening and that’s creating a lot of fear. And we are all vulnerable.”

With new cases and hospitalizations on the decline, Dr. Esses warns that the public cannot let their guard down.

“This is not over at all, this is not even close to being over,” Dr. Esses explained. “Don’t get together in these large groups and then go home to your elderly parents and grandparents. You’re putting everyone at risk. If you get sick, everyone around you can get sick and that’s why people are dying. You might be young and healthy, you might be okay but what about everyone else you have contact with.”

Dr. Esses says Montefiore is making long terms plans on how to serve non-COVID patients alongside COVID patients, while maintaining the ability to quickly increase capacity should there be another spike in the future.