FILE PHOTO: A doctor in protective suit prepares before visiting patients suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bergamo, the epicentre of Italy's outbreak, April 16, 2020. Patients with symptoms that are not too severe are treated at home in Bergamo, to avoid overcrowding hospitals already overwhelmed with patients needing intensive care. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo
BERGAMO, Italy (Reuters) - For doctors in northern Italy, fighting what is still Europe's worst outbreak of COVID-19, the frontlines have moved beyond hospitals as special teams try to keep patients alive at home, away from the saturated wards where thousands have died.
For staff on the so-called USCA (Special Continuity Assistance Units) teams, it has been a draining struggle, initially hampered by a shortage of vital protective gear, that mixes emergency medicine with the shock of losing unprecedented numbers of patients.
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