In This European Country, Hospitals Are as Scary as the Coronavirus
- Romania is enduring eastern Europe’s biggest spike in deaths
- The nation’s health system is among the EU’s least prepared
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When the first patients with symptoms of Covid-19 appeared last month in a regional Romanian hospital, it took one doctor more than 50 calls to reach a local epidemiologist. Even then, despite fears the coronavirus was sweeping across Europe, no one at the public health office seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation.
The problem is now all too clear as infections surge -- in many cases among the staff. The facility is the epicenter of the country’s outbreak, which has recorded more fatalities than nearby Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic combined.