Nurses Letter To Quarantined Newborn From Day 1 Of Lockdown

A nurse looking after a premature baby born on the same day Spain’s coronavirus lockdown began has written an emotional letter about the baby´s first month of life in quarantine.

The touching letter was written by Spanish nurse Susana Rivero Vinas who is one of the health professionals to care for baby Juan, whose name has been changed to protect his identity.

Local media report Juan was born after just 28 weeks of gestation at the University Hospital Prince of Asturias in the Spanish capital Madrid on 14th March, the day the state of emergency declared by the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, 48, began.

Rivero Vinas told local media “the boy’s story has moved me a lot”, saying the tot’s Italian father took “days to put his hand inside the incubator” out of fears of potentially infecting him with the virus.

Juan weighed just over 1 kilogramme (2.2 lbs) right after his birth but is now improving weighing a reported 1.7 kilogrammes (3.74 lbs). The hospital told Newsflash he “is still hospitalised”.

In the letter entitled “And The World Keeps On Spinning” she wrote: “Everything seemed to stop. Everything except the hectic activity at hospitals where the hours in a day were not (and still aren’t) enough.”

But “we could not prohibit future mothers from giving birth when the time came. And worse yet, we could not prohibit babies being born ahead of time.

“On the same day the state of alarm was declared, Juan was incredibly born simultaneously. At 1,050 grammes (2.3 lbs) and totally unaware of his surroundings.

“Juan turns one month today. He has only been receiving his mother and father’s company but never together.

“One of the two are given medical updates in the most absolute of loneliness, there are no hugs of consolation, there is no shoulder to lean on when they get bad news. They digest them on the car ride home.

“The father has never seen his wife with the baby in her arms. The mother has never been a witness to the father and son touching. Juan is now breastfeeding, his father cannot enjoy the moment.

“A child of almost 5 years of age waits at home, always at home, the arrival of his little brother. He understands he cannot go to the hospital to meet him.”

She goes on to remember her “colleagues that have been lost along the way. Those that many call ‘heroes’ are examples of responsibility, humility and sacrifice to me.[…]

“Mitigating the loneliness of those who leave us every day in hospitals from the entire world. This world keeps on spinning… despite everything.”

According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University Spain has reported 200,210 cases of the virus leading to 20,852 deaths.

Sanchez recently announced the state of alarm will be prolonged to 9th May.