COVID19: Interview with Dr. Tsion Firew

Tadias Magazine

By Liben Eabisa

Updated: April 19th, 2020

Interview with Dr. Tsion Firew, Doctor on the Frontline in NYC

New York (TADIAS) — In New York City, which has now become the global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, working as a medical professional means literally going to a “war zone,” says physician Tsion Firew, a Doctor of Emergency Medicine and Assistant Professor at Columbia University, who has just recovered from COVID-19 and returned to work a few days ago.

“You’ve slained our colleagues, disrupted communities, but I return to the battlefield fixed on the light that whispers a promise we will win this fight,” she shared on social media recently announcing her recovery. “So happy to be back, recuperated & armored with an antibody!”

Indeed the statistics coming out of New York are simply shocking with the state recording a sharp increase in death toll this months surpassing 10,000 and growing. According to The New York Times: “The numbers brought into clearer focus the staggering toll the virus has already taken on the largest city in the United States, where deserted streets are haunted by the near-constant howl of ambulance sirens. Far more people have died in New York City, on a per-capita basis, than in Italy — the hardest-hit country in Europe.”

At the heart of the solution both in the U.S. and around the world is more testing and adhering to social distancing rules until such time as a proper treatment and vaccine is discovered, says Dr. Tsion, who is also a Special Advisor to the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia.

Dr. Tsion adds that at this moment “we all as humanity have one enemy: the virus. And what’s going to win the fight is solidarity.”

Below is an audio of my interview with Dr. Tsion Firew.