SILVER SPRING, Md. — The crippling toll of the latest surge of COVID-19 in India has collapsed many communities and worried families throughout the world.
The second most populated country saw nearly 4,000 deaths and over 412,000 infections in a 24-hour period, pushing the death toll to more than 230,000 since the start of the pandemic. About 120 people are dying every hour, but experts fear cases are likely higher because they're being under-reported.
Many Indian Americans in the D.C. area are feeling the impact of the widespread losses including Dr. Chintu Sharma of Montgomery County. The second wave of the pandemic has killed three relatives and left four loved ones in the ICU.
The constant barrage of phone calls and text messages from family members has been overwhelming. The onslaught of posts on social media about another death from his community is weighing heavy on him.
"There are a lot of very nice people who are going to die and I have no other way to help them," Sharma said. "What we're seeing is awful."
Funeral pyres in India burning around the clock have become a constant and heartbreaking reminder of the latest surge, sparked by super-spreader mass ceremonial gatherings. Many residents are blaming the leaders in the country for providing a false sense of security when they announced the threat of the virus was over several months ago. Loosely enforced restrictions by the government are also being blamed.
Dr. Sharma has worked COVID-19 units when the pandemic first hit the DMV, but the experience is vastly different from hospitals overseas.
Hospitals in India have been in critical need of more oxygen supply and beds as seriously sick people desperate to get help have been turned away.
U.S. officials have been shipping much-needed equipment including rapid tests, PPE's, material used to create vaccines and oxygen generators. India is set to receive $100 million worth of aid from the U.S. government.
"There is no way that what happens in India doesn't spread around the world again unless we find a way to help," Sharma said.
There have been many agencies throughout the U.S. that started accepting donations and sending supplies overseas.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, has increased its emergency operations in India by providing immediate access to oxygen. The international humanitarian agency has donated an oxygen generation plant, donated thousands of PPEs and partnered with Indian health clinics to assist with vaccine sites and offer psycho-social support to communities.
"It's really our team working in communities in the midst of this and doing the difficult work," ADRA Emergency Response Program Manager Elizabeth Tomenko said.
The Guru Nanak Foundation of America, a gurdwara based in Silver Spring, is also collecting money for aid for India.