(CNN) – Almost two months after the first case of coronavirus in the US, the federal government is preparing for a pandemic that could last up to 18 months or more and “include multiple waves,” according to a report obtained by CNN.
Hospitals have already raised the alarm as supplies are rapidly running out, while the outbreak in the country shows no signs of slowing down: in just 24 hours, cases skyrocketed by more than 40%.
The government announced this week that it would help offset possible shortages of medical supplies and deploy two hospital ships to bolster medical capacity.
Almost 9,000 Americans have tested positive for the virus. At least 149 have died.
“I see it, in a sense, as being president in times of war,” Donald Trump said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Because that is what we are fighting. The situation here is very difficult. “
To curb the spread of the virus, governors across the country took action this week, taking drastic measures like closing schools, forcing bars and restaurants to offer only take-out food, and banning mass gatherings.
Some local leaders in California, including the mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, who was the first to apply these measures, have instructed their residents to “take refuge in their place” and to leave the house only for what is essential.
About 10 million residents are under that order. Solano County, the last to join other Bay Area counties in enforcing the order, told its residents to stay put until April 7.
“We take this health crisis seriously and try to protect our community while ensuring the functioning of the essential parts of our county and trying to mitigate the enormous burden on workers and businesses,” he said in a statement. Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County Public Health Officer.
But in many U.S. communities, that burden has turned out to be enormous, and some hospitals say they only have equipment left for a few days.
Hand sewing masks
In southwest Georgia, hospitals have masks left for only three days, Scott Steiner, president of Phoebe Putney Health Systems, told CNN.
“We have run out of supplies for five months, now six months, in less than a week,” he said. “It is making it difficult for us.”
To make supplies last longer, Steiner said members of his staff are making masks by hand, sewing them on.
“We use surgical tissue, and this is our prototype,” he said. “We have around 3,000 made. We believe we can make 200,000. It will take a few weeks, but we have to do it because we don’t know when the next shipment will arrive. ”
Similar stories come from the rest of the country, about this type of homemade supplies.
“We only had half a day left in personal protective equipment,” said Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, clinical director and executive vice president of Providence St. Joseph Health, a network of more than 50 hospitals, on Wednesday. “We have desperately searched under the stones, trying to find the equipment we need.”
Overall, he says, those hospitals together often use 250,000 masks a year. In three months of this year, a single hospital has used that same amount.
“The increase in demand has far outstripped supply,” Compton-Phillips explained. So hospitals resort to making their own equipment.
“We are going to launch a 100 million mask challenge with instructions on how to make the masks and design so you can make them at home. Because something must be done. And we know that the global supply chain is under enormous pressure, “he added.
State measures against scarcity
In King County, where one of the first outbreaks in the United States was recorded, authorities said Wednesday they installed a temporary hospital on a soccer field.
The field would give the county an additional 200 medical beds. Health authorities estimate that an additional 3,000 beds are needed in the county.
“The situation is evolving rapidly and requires swift and decisive action,” said a press release from the city of Shoreline, in Washington state. “The county is acting to react to the growing need for hospital beds in the region (and) is in the process of installing tents and other infrastructure to prepare.”
In Maryland, health authorities are stepping up efforts to increase their beds by at least 6,000.
“We are concerned about issues like hospital beds, capacity, personal protective equipment and respirators, and all that stuff,” Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said Wednesday. “All the governors are taking the necessary steps to save the lives of the people in their states, unprecedented actions that we are taking.”
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the virus would peak in 45 days and called for an additional 110,000 beds.
“Everyone is talking about flattening the curve,” he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo earlier this week. “I don’t see a curve. I see a wave. And the wave will hit the health system and … it will be a tsunami. “
The state already has 3,000 respirators, but Cuomo says it is not enough.
Michael Dowling, President and CEO of Northwell Health, was chosen by the Governor of New York to lead an emergency team to increase hospital capacity. He said he wants to buy up to 500 artificial respirators, which can cost between $ 20,000 and $ 40,000 per machine.
Meanwhile, in the face of abrupt demand, respirator manufacturers say demand is difficult to meet.
“It’s more than we can currently manufacture,” said Kathrin Elsner, team leader for MarCom Respirators at Hamilton Medical Inc. Elsner said the company has already received hundreds of orders and requests in the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, America’s smallest rural hospitals, which in many cases have no more than 25 beds and only one ventilator, may be forced to transfer patients to larger facilities if they see a sudden increase in cases.
“That’s the rural United States,” said Alan Morgan, executive director of the National Association for Rural Health. “There is a high proportion of low-income older people with high health needs. Therefore, if there were an outbreak in a rural community, the situation would quickly worsen. “
We still don’t know much about the virus
Despite predictions about how the situation will evolve in the coming months in the United States, in the health care system and around the world, a senior US health official. USA says there are still many unknowns.
“It’s evolving,” Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told CNN Wednesday night. “It is evolving, we know more and more every day.”
In recent days, authorities have highlighted the role young people can play in how much and how fast the virus spreads, and have urged young people to follow the warnings and take them seriously.
“You have the responsibility, the social responsibility, to protect the vulnerable,” said Fauci. “And they will comply, curiously, if they do not allow themselves to be infected, because they must ensure that they do not transmit the infection to someone who could affect it more.”
Recent studies and an outbreak in Massachusetts indicate that the asymptomatic infected may contribute to spreading the virus more than previously thought.
“It could be that among the generation of millennials, our largest generation, our future generation, which will take us forward in the coming decades, there is a disproportionate number of infections in that group,” according to Dr. Deborah Birx, response coordinator. to the White House coronavirus.
“So I go back to that generation … not only asking them to pay attention to what is in the guide, but also to make sure that each and every one of you protect yourself,” he said. “There cannot continue to be meetings that continue to occur across the country with jobless people socializing in large groups and spreading the virus … You could pass it on to someone with a health problem we don’t know about and have serious consequences.”
(With information from Mark Morales, Sarah Moon and Athena Jones)
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