Steve Lopez: Gasping, afraid, alone. What it's like to die a COVID-19 death
They beg for help. They flail. Their eyes fill with terror.
"We have people that are sitting in bed and they're breathing like they're running a marathon at full speed," said Dr. Adupa Rao, a pulmonologist and critical care specialist at Keck Hospital of USC.
"They're breathing so fast and so deep, they're trying to catch their breath," Rao said. "It's almost like you're watching a goldfish out of water, gasping to get air, and it can never get enough."
Manny Khodadadi, an emergency room nurse at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, described the scene there in nearly identical terms.
For patients, "it's like being under water and trying to swim toward the top and you can't get your nose above the top of the water," Khodadadi said.
He's been an ER nurse for 10 years after working as a paramedic and ambulance driver, but
