The coronavirus fight at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital

Dr. Oscar Casillas puts on his isolation gown in the emergency department at MLK Community Hospital.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Quinnece Washington, a new nurse at MLK Community Hospital, works with COVID-19 patients.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Dr. Oscar Casillas talks to an ER patient at the hospital in the Willowbrook neighborhood of South Los Angeles.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Dr. Oscar Casillas, left, and registered nurse Jesse Lynwood, center, work with an ER patient.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Darnell Baker, an environmental services worker, cleans a room that harbored the coronavirus in the emergency department.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

A patient struggling to breathe is hooked up to monitors in the emergency department.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Registered nurse Sandy Valle is working inside the triage tent during the COVID-19 pandemic.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Registered nurse Joshua Barba runs to help a COVID-19 patient at MLK Community Hospital.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Patient care technician Rakeem Addison, wiping his forehead, heats up his lunch in the breakroom of the COVID-19 unit.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Patient care technician Rakeem Addison comforts a non-COVID-19 patient at the hospital.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Nurses Amanda Hamilton, left, and Naomi Okonofua work on a COVID-19 patient in the ICU.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Doctors and nurses tend to a patient in the intensive care unit. The man had stopped breathing, but the team revived him.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Alessandro Garcia, left, cleans respiratory therapist Janssen Redondo’s mask in the ICU.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

ICU nurse Naomi Okonofua, wearing full personal protective equipment, cares for a COVID-19 patient.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Nurse Naomi Okonofua, left, and Dr. Anthony Arredondo work together in the ICU with a COVID-19 patient.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Registered nurse Michelle Kim pulls off her gloves while working inside the triage tent at MLK Community Hospital.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)