As coronavirus continues its spread across the World. Hospitals are bracing for the influx of patients who will need care for the most serious effects of the disease called COVID-19. What will it take to be ready? A new overview by two- Michigan Medicine experts and their colleagues lays out the evidence. And gives practical advice for hospitals of all sizes. Hospitals should be prepared to clear at least 30% of their current beds to handle the influx of COVID-19 patients. And patients who would normally have gone to hospitals. That will be caring for the most COVID-19 patients.
And they need to be thinking about how to create more care space if need be, they say. The 95,000 beds in the U.S. currently used for the care of medical and surgical critically ill patients. And the staff, equipment, and supplies involved in that care may need to double. If COVID-19 sickens as many people like the 1957 or 1968 influenza pandemics.
Hospitals in The U.S.
In the U.S. a medical building on the hospital grounds, the director for emergency management. Craig DeAtley opens the door to a room crammed with supplies. It's called the ready room he explains. It's where they keep equipment to handle all kinds of crises from Ebola to a hazmat incident to a mass casualty situation.
Right now, the crisis is a coronavirus. And so some storage carts have moved out, to create one more location where arriving patients can assess.
COVID-19 UPDATE No. 29
(March 28, 2020 | 4PM)COVID-19 cases breached the 1000-mark today, March 28, with 272 more cases reported by the Department of Health (DOH), bringing the total to 1,075. pic.twitter.com/3fYPOTGZXr
— Philippine Red Cross (@philredcross) March 28, 2020
And even in the other hospitals in the U.S.and other health facilities already are facing short supplies. On Sunday, Washington state's Congressional delegation sent a letter to. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. About that hard-hit state's need for more personal protective equipment. From the strategic national stockpile. Many health centers, nursing facilities, fire departments, and other sectors. Through the state has either depleted their supply of personal protective equipment or will run out in a matter of days.