I haven't been a doctor for long, and I've barely scratched the surface for what it means to be a medical professional.

But I am worried.

All the doctors I know are worried.

We've recently seen an influx of footage from the hardest hit hospitals in Italy's Lombardy region. In this footage, there's a chaotic scene: corridors and waiting rooms are packed with people struggling to breathe.

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But something else stuck out to me in this video, which you might have missed: patients are wearing bubble helmets, which help a person breathe by providing a positive pressure to prop their diseased lungs open so more oxygen can get in.

I work in a large public hospital in Sydney. We don't have bubble helmets. We have a different way of providing positive pressure - special face masks or nasal prongs with a high flow of oxygen.

Usually, they work well. But you know what? We've been told not to use them, because they cause dangerous sprays of virus and other particles on healthcare workers and surrounding patients.

You know what we've been told to do when someone is still struggling to breathe despite normal oxygen? We've been told to intubate them. And do you know what an intubated person needs? A ventilator. Do you know where ventilated patients need to go? To an intensive care unit, to be looked after by specialised intensive care staff.

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The intensive care unit where I work is, most of the time, bursting at the seams. Now add a COVID-19 pandemic on top of that. A virus that is so contagious that each existing infection will on average cause three new ones. If this happens just 10 times over, the number of patients soars to over 59,000 (by comparison, swine flu would only infect around 30 people). COVID-19 is a virus that can infect people without any symptoms whatsoever - leaving them to go about their day and infect their loved ones unknowingly - or, it can be so severe that it can kill you - young and old.

Personally I am sick of people trying to downplay this by reassuring each other that only the elderly will die. It's a classic example of society not giving a damn about our most vulnerable.

The thing is, us young people are at risk too. At the moment in New South Wales, the age groups with the most cases of COVID-19 are in their 20s and 30s. Most of them will recover. But some won't - young people are dying from COVID-19. We aren't invincible.

What it's like on the frontline

Currently we're in the calm before the storm. The mood is sombre. Everyone is scared.

COVID teams are being formed with staff from all over the hospital.

We are being trained in the best way of providing care to patients with COVID-19, and we are also being taught how to protect ourselves. If the protective equipment we use (masks, gowns, gloves etc) runs out, we've been told to protect our most valuable resource - healthcare staff.

That means we don't provide medical care unless we are protected. We don't do CPR unless we are protected. We would essentially watch people die until we get proper protective equipment. It's a chilling reality that I hope we never reach.

Every measure the hospitals are taking will help save lives, until our resources are overrun.

The only thing Australians can do to help avoid being overrun, is, you guessed it, stay home.

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Whatsapp Australians are being urged to practice physical distancing - keeping at least 1.5 metres away from others

It's literally the only thing you can do.

It doesn't matter if bootcamps and haircuts are still "government approved". This pandemic is on our doorstep.

Please, avoid contact with others as much as possible. It's not about you catching it, it's about you spreading it.

My heart breaks for all the people who have lost their livelihoods as a result of social distancing measures. I wish this wasn't happening. But the sooner we get on top of COVID-19, the sooner we will all be back on our feet. By limiting the spread, we can get more people back to work, back to school, and back to our lovely social lives as we knew them.

Healthcare workers will do their best with the resources that we have.

But this time, it's not us saving lives. It's you. By staying home and stopping the spread.

So to you reading this at home - thank you for staying in. I know it sucks. But you are saving lives. And we couldn't do this without you.

This piece was written by a young doctor working in a public hospital in Sydney. She is remaining anonymous.

NSW Health did not respond to Hack's request for comment.