Migrant workers stand in line as they wait for transportation to a railway station in Mumbai, India. By Vaishnavi ChandrashekharScience's COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.One morning in mid-May, Nasim Qureshi suddenly developed a fever, cough, and shortness of breath.
Qureshi, a member of Mumbai, India’s street vendor union, rushed to a small private hospital, where doctors gave him a check up but refused to admit him.
Later the same day, he was turned away from two more hospitals before he finally found a bed at a municipal hospital. By then, his breathing trouble had worsened—and the hospital only had a few ventilators.By the time one was made available, his friends say, Qureshi had died.Stories like Qureshi’s have