This article is part of Harvard Medical School’s continuing coverage of medicine, biomedical research, medical education and policy related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the disease COVID-19. The patient presented with a fever and multiple other COVID-19 symptoms that she had been experiencing for several weeks. She had gone to an emergency room when she first became ill, but left after hours of being ignored. She suspected that she didn't receive care in the hospital because she is deaf and there was no one there at the time who could communicate with her in American Sign Language. Now, the patient was calling the New York City coronavirus hotline because she wanted to self-isolate at home but had no way to get food without leaving her apartment. She wasn't able to communicate with neighbors and her family lives far away.