As the coronavirus spreads in the U.S., public health agencies are starting to worry about hospital capacity. The total number of ICU beds is about 65,000, the American Hospital Association says.
Emergency physician Brad Younggren, in the emergency department at EvergreenHealth hospital in Kirkland, Wash., where he's been caring for patients with likely cases of COVID-19.Emergency physician Brad Younggren, in the emergency department at EvergreenHealth hospital in Kirkland, Wash., where he's been caring for patients with likely cases of COVID-19.As the coronavirus spreads in the U.S., public health agencies are starting to worry about hospital capacity.
Entrance to EvergreenHealth, in Kirland, Wash., which treated the first known COVID-19 fatalities in the U.S.Entrance to EvergreenHealth, in Kirland, Wash., which treated the first known COVID-19 fatalities in the U.S.He says government planning assumptions based on past flu pandemics suggest a surge in demand for intensive care that could range somewhere between 200,000 thousand and 2.9 million patients.
One week later, the hospital has made plans to house even more of the patients, by taking steps such as converting more sections of its buildings into"negative pressure wards," in which HVAC systems keep germs from spreading. Still, they're feeling the strain. Some nurses in the Seattle area and California have complained about a shortage of protective gear, especially N95 masks. The union representing nurses at EvergreenHealth said many of them didn't have sufficient supplies of protective gear, and didn't have enough orientation for how to safely handle suspected coronavirus cases.
"We in the last few weeks, in our health care system, have gotten multiple notifications of the hosptial being at full capacity. And I would say this is not unusual for most academic centers across the U.S.," Abir says. "We are working very closely with the state and with the health insurers to say, 'Those people need to be moved out,'" she says."That's the number one way to create capacity."
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