‘Mommy tried really hard to do her job’: New York doctor posts heartbreaking goodbye to children in case she dies of coronavirus

‘My babies are too young to read this now. And they’d barely recognise me in my gear’

A doctor in New York has left a heartbreaking goodbye message to her children in case she dies of coronavirus in the fight against the disease.

Dr Cornelia Griggs is working on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic in New York City, which has become the epicentre of the outbreak in the US.

In an emotional post on her Twitter page, Dr Griggs left a message for her children in case she falls victim to the virus while working during the pandemic.

“My babies are too young to read this now. And they’d barely recognise me in my gear. But if they lose me to Covid I want them to know Mommy tried really hard to do her job. #GetMePPE #NYC,” she wrote.

The doctor posted the message alongside a photo of her in head to toe protective gear.

The tweet has gone viral with more than 100,000 retweets and 500,000 likes.

New York state is the worst hit in the country by the pandemic, with over 59,000 cases and 965 deaths recorded as of Monday, according to CNN.

The state now accounts for roughly a quarter of the 100,000 infections in the whole US.

New York City remains in an unprecedented state of emergency, as 98 people in New York City died on Sunday, raising the city’s death toll to nearly 800.

As a result of the virus, the city’s healthcare systems have been completely overrun and are struggling to cope with the number of hospitalised patients.

On Monday, authorities gave the go-ahead for the construction of a field hospital in Central Park to help services cope with the number of patients.

The doctors GetMePPE hashtag refers to the ongoing strain within the state of supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) to healthcare professionals. PPE helps to protect workers against infection when treating patients.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo assured healthcare workers in a press conference on Wednesday that hospitals have plenty of PPE for staff members for the immediate future.

However, medical workers continue to criticise the government and insist that there is not an adequate enough supply to follow guidelines where there are a lot of risks involved.

Last week, 48-year-old nursing manager Kious Kelly died at a Mount Sinai New York hospital of Covid-19, according to reports.

Staffers alleged to The New York Post that his death was connected to PPE shortages. A spokesperson for Mount Sinai has strongly denied the claims.

A picture of nursing staff wrapping themselves in bin bags as makeshift gowns at the same Mount Sinai hospital where Kelly worked also went viral online.

In a statement to The Hill, a spokesperson said the hospital system “always” provides “all our staff with the critically important” PPE “they need to do their job”.

“If an individual does not have their proper PPE, they do not go on the floor, period. Any suggestion otherwise is simply not accurate,” the spokesperson said.

The number of cases of the novel coronavirus has surpassed 690,000 worldwide, according to The World Health Organization.