Riverside ER Doctor Assisting With Coronavirus Response In New York City

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- An emergency room doctor from Riverside Community Hospital was chosen by Gov. Gavin Newsom along with 14 other California doctors to go help on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic in New York City.

Dr. Sam Zidovetzki has been assigned to the Lincoln Hospital in South Bronx, one of the hardest-hit hospitals with coronavirus patients.

"Patients just coming in by the truckload, unable to breathe and being placed on life support, one after another," Zidovetzki said. "And in some cases, dying alone without anyone near them. And so they've gone through some real hardship here."

After seeing the way that coronavirus can impact lives, Zidovetzki is encouraging Angelenos to be patient and take guidelines seriously.

"It's so critical that we don't lose vigilance in Los Angeles and in Southern California because we're only a couple of weeks behind New York so we need to absolutely maintain quarantine and strict social distancing," he said. Only go out when you need to so that hopefully the emergency departments over there never experience what they experienced over here the last couple of weeks."

Zidovetzki will spend two weeks in New York City to assist during the coronavirus pandemic, then he'll return to Southern California, where he will be quarantined for two weeks before being able to see patients again.