The diary of an E.R. doctor

Dr. Helen Ouyang has recorded her experiences for The Times Magazine, starting at the beginning of March, when New York State recorded its first coronavirus case.

Six weeks later, amid daily conversations about death, she wrote: “I’ve never felt less useful as a doctor. The one thing I can do — what I think will matter most, in the end — is just to be a person first, for these patients and their families.”

Related: New York City sharply increased its death toll on Tuesday, after officials said they would include over 3,700 people who were presumed to have died of the virus but had never tested positive for it. The new figures appeared to increase the overall U.S. death toll by 17 percent, to more than 26,000.

Closer look: One of our writers visited a 68-bed field hospital in Central Park operated by the evangelical Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse. It’s the organization’s first medical deployment in the U.S.

How far the virus can carry

Public health experts have encouraged people to stay six feet from others, which is supposed to be a safe distance if a cough or sneeze spreads droplets that may carry coronavirus particles.