PORT ARTHUR, Texas — One nurse describes the time she spent in New York amid the COVID-19 pandemic as 'apocalyptic.'
She hopes her story will serve as a warning for her friends and family in Southeast Texas.
Aisha Ledet and thousands of other nurses were deployed to New York back in March, and now she thinks Texas is going to start seeing that same demand. It's one of the reasons she's back in her hometown helping out.
"Work in general was, like, apocalyptic when we got there," Ledet said.
After spending 103 days in New York on the front lines, Ledet though she would be able to head back home to Denver for some much needed rest.
"Texas is such a big state, and with the way it's spreading so quickly, my phone is still getting blown up for jobs in other cities," Ledet said. "But if my hometown is an option, then I'm not gonna see those other cities, I'm coming home."
She lives in Denver now, but she grew up in Port Arthur. That's why she in Texas, hoping it's nothing like her experience in New York.
"It was something that probably none of us had ever seen. The amount of deaths that we witnessed," Ledet said.
With cases climbing, Ledet says extra precautions could be life-saving. That's especially true after the reopening Texas has seen.
"Texas was too soon," Ledet said.
She says between mental and physical health and trying to get the economy back up and running, it couldn't have been an easy choice.
"I don't think they did anything wrong with trying to phase it open. I do think we could've been more cautious, but it was a lose lose situation either way," Ledet said.
What medical professionals have reiterated over and over is that it's a community effort, and that it's never too late to start practicing the precautions to help slow the spread and keep hospitalization numbers down.
"Just be considerate of them and yourself," Ledet said. "Even if you don't have it, just as a common courtesy or as a human to make the other person comfortable."
