A heartbreaking look inside COVID-19 hospital units

A nurse wearing personal protective equipment monitors a COVID-19 patient inside the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System in Salinas, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020.

A nurses enters one of the 14 rooms located inside the COVID-19 unit at the Salinas Valley Healthcare Memorial Healthcare System in Salinas, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020.

Healthcare worker Demetra Ransom speaks to a patient in the Covid-19 ward at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on December 4, 2020.

Chief of Staff Doctor Joseph Varon smiles and waves to Gloria Garcia's family as she video calls them from the Covid-19 ward at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on December 4, 2020. - Joseph Varon, a doctor treating coronavirus patients at a Texas hospital, was working his 252nd day in a row when he spotted a distraught elderly man in the Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU).

Dr. Joseph Varon hugs and comforts a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) during Thanksgiving at the United Memorial Medical Center on November 26, 2020 in Houston, Texas. According to reports, Texas has reached over 1,220,000 cases, including over 21,500 deaths.

Medical staff members Tanna Ingraham, left, and Gabriel Cervera Rodriguez, right, check on a patient who is on a rotating medical bed in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center on December 2, 2020 in Houston, Texas. According to reports, Texas has reached over 1,280,000 cases, including over 22,200 deaths.

An unidentified COVID-19 patient sits in a hospital bed on Friday, November, 6, 2020 at the El Paso LTAC hospital in central El Paso.

A team of health care workers does a procedure on a patient with COVID-19 in UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus Wednesday, November 18, 2020. This group of nurses, doctors, and respiratory therapists work on a floor of negative-pressure rooms treating 18 patients with COVID-19 requiring an intensive care unit level of care.

A COVID-19 patient on a ventilator lies in a negative air pressure room in a 12-bed intensive care unit Thursday, November 5, 2020 at UW Hospital in Madison, Wis. The U.S. is contending with its third, and worst, wave of the virus yet. On Wednesday for the first time, more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in a day.

Registered Nurse Daniel Corral works with a COVID-19 patient Thursday, November, 6, 2020 at the El Paso LTAC Hospital.

Registered nurses Daniele Payne, right, and Katie Zupek wearing powered air purifying respirators tend to a COVID-19 patient in a negative air pressure room in a 12-bed intensive care unit Thursday, November 5, 2020 at UW Hospital in Madison, Wis.

The patient board at the El Paso LTAC Hospital identifies those infected with COVID-19.

Medical staff members treat a patient suffering from coronavirus in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) on November 10, 2020 in Houston, Texas.

Sparrow ICU nurses Mary-Jo Julin, left, and Lauren Brandon prepare to see a COVID-19 patient under their care, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020, during their shift in the intensive care unit at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.

Medical staff member Tanna Ingraham checks I.V. on a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center on November 19, 2020 in Houston, Texas.

A medical staff member works on a computer as the number on the wall indicates the days since the hospital opened its COVID-19 unit at United Memorial Medical center on November 14, 2020 in Houston, Texas. According to reports, Texas has reached over 1,070,000 cases, including over 19,900 deaths.