Southern California Hospitals rationing personal protective equipment

[24mech]

I work for a large group of hospitals ...our ER doctors and nurses are reporting they are rationing masks and protective gowns to staff as the number of cases of patients with coronavirus infection go up. We have not received new shipments of these needed equipment and we are worried we will not be ready if "Italy levels" of sick patients arrive. We might get a portion of supplies being released from the National Strategic Reserves but that's a big if. Some of our staff have bought protective equipment on their own for exorbitant prices. I do get to talk to our northern California er doctors and they have the same issues. As of now we agree that we are not ready for a surge of cases . Unless State and Federal government rally and help provide resources to our hospitals there will be a continued shortage until SHTF. Just a heads up... 2 weeks we'll know if it does go to the "Italy levels".

[tsmithson]

I have been blowing that same whistle for awhile.
America has been caught with its pants down.
Where are the masks?
One Hospital getting it from another Hospital because the supplier has none.
Is not comforting.

[24mech]

The masks and gowns were sold off to china for profit last January at the height of their crisis. . And now we're paying for it. We're paying for it also that a lot of the production lines for Personal protection equipment is in china.

[Mushin]

The majority of masks in the National Strategic Reserves are past the expiration date. Not sure how much that affects their effectiveness.

[NoNameThanks]

Originally Posted by 24mech

Just a heads up... 2 weeks we'll know if it does go to the "Italy levels".

We are AT Italy levels, just two weeks behind. In the medical community, we’ve been beating this drum for weeks and no one’s been listening. The administration is only now not calling it a hoax or a Democrat plot. We lost a lot of valuable time.

SF Bay Area is calling shelter-in-place. This needs to be national, but we’ll wait until the horse has left the barn if the politics are any indication.

[24mech]

Realistically we feel that we are in Italy levels. We believe we should have locked down a while ago and the current actions now being done it's just trying to flatten the curve as fast as possible. The real numbers are not showing because of the lack of testing kits. We are dealing with a lot more PUIs for the past 3 nights i've been on duty than the previous days last week. We haven't gone on a "War Footing " yet in the area hospitals...only Cedar Sinai and Kaiser is the one i know that ordered non essential support staff to work from home.

[Californio]

My daughter is in Medical School, a week ago, the M3's doing clinical were put on the sidelines because the hospital was hoarding PPE's and only issued them for active workers, M3's are dividing by zero with nothing to do. Not a good situation if we get a big spike and they need body's with medical training.

My buddy in a Big SoCal hospital, because of all the kids out school, is having staffing problems, day care, tween and teen care has become an issue as both parents work in the medical field.

Originally Posted by 24mech

I work for a large group of hospitals ...our ER doctors and nurses are reporting they are rationing masks and protective gowns to staff as the number of cases of patients with coronavirus infection go up. We have not received new shipments of these needed equipment and we are worried we will not be ready if "Italy levels" of sick patients arrive. We might get a portion of supplies being released from the National Strategic Reserves but that's a big if. Some of our staff have bought protective equipment on their own for exorbitant prices. I do get to talk to our northern California er doctors and they have the same issues. As of now we agree that we are not ready for a surge of cases . Unless State and Federal government rally and help provide resources to our hospitals there will be a continued shortage until SHTF. Just a heads up... 2 weeks we'll know if it does go to the "Italy levels".

[August]

Not providing PPE to public health workers is reckless endangerment to public health.

[Den60]

Originally Posted by NoNameThanks

We are AT Italy levels, just two weeks behind. In the medical community, we’ve been beating this drum for weeks and no one’s been listening. The administration is only now not calling it a hoax or a Democrat plot. We lost a lot of valuable time.

SF Bay Area is calling shelter-in-place. This needs to be national, but we’ll wait until the horse has left the barn if the politics are any indication.

Trump never called the disease a hoax. Quit spreading lies.

[Creampuff]

What I hate is the internal pilfering. Rotten apples in every profession, I suppose.

[August]

^^^ Pretty much. I'd be fine right now if martial law was put into place but it's almost like the president is damned if he does or damned if he don't.

[SamIAm]

Originally Posted by August

^^^ Pretty much. I'd be fine right now if martial law was put into place but it's almost like the president is damned if he does or damned if he don't.

That's what you signed up for when you took the oath of office. Doesn't matter if you're a Republican (See W and 9/11, Katrina) or a Democrat (See O and Louisiana, ISIS). If it happened on your watch, you're to blame. It's not an easy job.

[August]

^^^ Oh Boy. Not a job that I could handle.....

[Dutch3]

My oldest daughter is married to a Marine who is stationed at Quantico, VA. She is a licensed Pharmacist Assistant and works at a chemotherapy clinic nearby.

She is required to wear a mask while working. Her employer is providing only one package of (disposable) masks per month to support 5 people. Ridiculous.

[NoNameThanks]

Originally Posted by Den60

Trump never called the disease a hoax. Quit spreading lies.

He has referred to the coronavirus as “their new hoax� the democrats are using to demonize him.

The president has consistently minimized the virus and the problem, he has talked about expectations that it the virus count would go down when every reputable doctor and epidemiologist told him it wouldn’t, and he indicated there was never a shortage of supplies or testing kits (when those in the healthcare system who know have been ringing the alarm). He only stopped minimizing the problem when the markets tanked and he saw that he couldn’t reverse them, so now he’s positioning himself as a “wartime president.� But he’s STILL not taking decisive action and we’re losing lives.

I work in an ER. Most ERs and ICUs are not using the level of protection we need because of supply shortages in which most PPEs will be exhausted in a matter of weeks.

Trump can pivot all he wants on this one, his denials of the problem, lack of attention to shortages and needs, and late acknowledgment of the scope has put us WAY behind the 8-ball on this and the death toll is going to reflect it.

[24mech]

Well. We’ve reached 10k cases. A bit earlier than Italy’s case surge so **** Hit the Fans already. We’re gonna be all in the trenches soon. My group of hospitals recently retired ER docs have been told to get ready to get called back. I’ve been told to get ready to go back. Good luck NoNamethanks since you work in the ER. I’ll keep you guys posted from our perspective as the cases pile up. BTW we still are rationing PPEs. State promised major shipments of supplies but not till next week- no determined date ��.

[Californio]

I have be told that they are discussing M4, fourth year Med Students, may not have to that their boards because of the virus and be immediately pressed into service, if this actually takes place, we will all know how scared, underprepared and overwelmed the hospital system really is.

[NoNameThanks]

Originally Posted by 24mech

Well. We’ve reached 10k cases. A bit earlier than Italy’s case surge so **** Hit the Fans already. We’re gonna be all in the trenches soon. My group of hospitals recently retired ER docs have been told to get ready to get called back. I’ve been told to get ready to go back. Good luck NoNamethanks since you work in the ER. I’ll keep you guys posted from our perspective as the cases pile up. BTW we still are rationing PPEs. State promised major shipments of supplies but not till next week- no determined date Ã**½Ã*¸•.

You’re right on the numbers. I think that the problems folks have with the Italy comparison is that the layperson thinks we are talking numbers, when we are really talking PATTERNS. We will follow the same curves, but with much higher volumes.

My hospital is also contacting retired folks. And I’ve been touched by how many calls we’ve had from retired folks looking to help. We’re trying to work on contingency plans and have retired folks help out with telehealth and the like. I don’t like the idea of putting a 75 year old retired doc in what the ERs are about to look like, but if we can have them help out with the lower acuity outpatient stuff and put the outpatient FP and internist into the ED, that would be awesome.

The PPE issue is very interesting and the reaction shows the geographic differences. I’m on a few online medical forums and hearing about docs and nurses using N95s for every visit in some rural areas and saying they would NEVER see a COVID-19 case with anything less (and would contact OSHA if asked to).

In California, at least up my way, we are treating COVID-19 cases with surgical masks and reserving N95s for central lines, intubation and prolonged close contact. Is this ideal? No. But neither is running out of N95s in another week.

Take good care, 24mech.

[NoNameThanks]

Originally Posted by Californio

I have be told that they are discussing M4, fourth year Med Students, may not have to that their boards because of the virus and be immediately pressed into service, if this actually takes place, we will all know how scared, underprepared and overwelmed the hospital system really is.

That will be when things are really nasty. Currently, medical schools are actually PULLING medical students out of many cases to keep them healthy in case we reach that stage. First and second years aren’t even attending classes in person at many medical schools right now. Third and fourth years are trying to be reallocated.

[Den60]

Originally Posted by NoNameThanks

He has referred to the coronavirus as “their new hoax” the democrats are using to demonize him.

The president has consistently minimized the virus and the problem, he has talked about expectations that it the virus count would go down when every reputable doctor and epidemiologist told him it wouldn’t, and he indicated there was never a shortage of supplies or testing kits (when those in the healthcare system who know have been ringing the alarm). He only stopped minimizing the problem when the markets tanked and he saw that he couldn’t reverse them, so now he’s positioning himself as a “wartime president.” But he’s STILL not taking decisive action and we’re losing lives.

I work in an ER. Most ERs and ICUs are not using the level of protection we need because of supply shortages in which most PPEs will be exhausted in a matter of weeks.

Trump can pivot all he wants on this one, his denials of the problem, lack of attention to shortages and needs, and late acknowledgment of the scope has put us WAY behind the 8-ball on this and the death toll is going to reflect it.

No he didn't. He said the Dems' blaming him for the crisis as the hoax, which was entirely correct to say.

Trump took a lot of criticism for stopping travel from China to the US early in the crisis.

In January, President Trump banned all foreign nationals who were in China during the time of the coronavirus outbreak from entering the United States. Many pundits and health experts have since credited this decision with helping to slow the coronavirus pandemic on American shores.

However, at the time former vice president Joe Biden railed against the decision.

During a campaign rally, Biden said that “In moments like this, this is where the credibility of a president is most needed, as he explains what we should and should not do.”

“This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia, hysterical xenophobia, to uh, and fear mongering,” Biden continued.https://nationalfile.com/flashback-b...as-xenophobia/

Even the WHO Chief was critical of travel bans. From a Feb 3 article:

WHO chief says widespread travel bans not needed to beat China virus
Stephanie Nebehay


GENEVA (Reuters) - World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday there was no need for measures that “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade” in trying to halt the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 361 people in China.

“We call on all countries to implement decisions that are evidence-based and consistent,” Tedros told the WHO executive board, reiterating his message from last week when he declared an international emergency.
China is facing increasing international isolation due to restrictions on flights to and from the country, and bans on travellers from China.

There have been 17,238 confirmed infections in China including 361 deaths, as well as 151 confirmed cases in 23 countries and 1 death which was reported from the Philippines on Sunday, Tendros added.

“Because of this strategy and it weren’t for China, the number of cases outside China would have been very much higher,” he said.

Referring to the virus’ spread abroad, he said it was “minimal and slow”, while warning that it could worsen.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKBN1ZX1H3

That decision to restrict travel is why we are seeing less spread of the disease here in the states than in much of Europe. He has not minimized the virus as much as he has tried to contain the panic the media is spreading. You see the results of that panic anytime you go to a grocery store.

As for masks, 5 million were to be distributed by the DOD announced yesterday with 1 million immediately released. The administration has implemented the Defense Production Act to increase production of PPE and announced today getting rid of roadblocks where hospitals could not buy such products directly from the manufacturers.

China did not announce the new virus until January 7 and they have been all that forthcoming since. WHO announced an emergency on January 30 and Trump announced his China travel ban the next day. Fauci has said over and over that he has never seen the system work as rapidly as it has in this case, we are just about a month and a half since this was declared to be an emergency.

We are seeing a spread of low post count people on this board. You are not here because of guns. You are just here to spout unfounded anti-Trump rhetoric.

[Den60]

Originally Posted by NoNameThanks

That will be when things are really nasty. Currently, medical schools are actually PULLING medical students out of many cases to keep them healthy in case we reach that stage. First and second years aren’t even attending classes in person at many medical schools right now. Third and fourth years are trying to be reallocated.

Most colleges have stopped in class participation. Two schools here in San Diego, SDSU and USD have actually given student a 24 hour deadline to get out of the dorms. It ain't just Med students who are no longer in the classrooms.

[BB-Stacker]

I'm curious why the President has a responsibility regarding PPE for hospital staff. A pandemic of one sort or another has been talked about for decades. Seems to me that the hospital and/or their networked facilities should bear the responsibility for adequately stocking PPE amongst other necessary supplies and material for just such a situations. Same goes for the grocery business, etc. True, the government has a obligation for aiding state and local agencies for disaster relief issues, but running out of PPE after a few weeks would appear as poor planning on the part of the hospital (medical community at-large).

I could be full of horse feathers for sure of my observations here, but having been the Disaster Preparedness Officer for the largest naval base in the US (many years ago), emergency plans are based on worse case scenarios and an additional percentage for loss, defect and damage. We planned for contingencies of months and years, not weeks/months. Leaders and administrators are likely to fail when profits take precedence over mission readiness.

Please help me understand if I'm missing something here. Great discussion thus far.

[Den60]

Originally Posted by BB-Stacker

I'm curious why the President has a responsibility regarding PPE for hospital staff. A pandemic of one sort or another has been talked about for decades. Seems to me that the hospital and/or their networked facilities should bear the responsibility for adequately stocking PPE amongst other necessary supplies and material for just such a situations. Same goes for the grocery business, etc. True, the government has a obligation for aiding state and local agencies for disaster relief issues, but running out of PPE after a few weeks would appear as poor planning on the part of the hospital (medical community at-large).

I could be full of horse feathers for sure of my observations here, but having been the Disaster Preparedness Officer for the largest naval base in the US (many years ago), emergency plans are based on worse case scenarios and an additional percentage for loss, defect and damage. We planned for contingencies of months and years, not weeks/months. Leaders and administrators are likely to fail when profits take precedence over mission readiness.

Please help me understand if I'm missing something here. Great discussion thus far.

Well, I think one can go straight to 3M to see the problem:

Producing product where it’s needed

We continue to manufacture needed products in multiple areas around the world, including in the United States and China, as well as in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Our manufacturing model emphasizes local for local. For example, the majority of our products made in the United States are sold in the United States.

At our Aberdeen, South Dakota plant, Tim Hofer stood in front of a production line that was turning out thousands of 3M N95 respirators. The plant was running around the clock in response to the coronavirus outbreak – and the resulting global demand for respirators.

“We know what we have to do, we know we need to keep our numbers up, we know we need to keep ourselves safe, and we need to put out great quality,” said Tim, a machine operator. “And that’s what we’ve come here to do.”

While 3M manufactures millions of respirators per month at its production facilities, we expect demand for respirators and other supplies to outpace supply for the foreseeable future.

“We are committed to balanced distribution of our products that both supports the response to COVID-19 and ensures product availability to our existing industrial and healthcare customers who rely on our products,” Mike said. “Unfortunately, with the evolving situation, more of our production capacity must be dedicated to supplying healthcare and government/emergency response. We have notified our authorized distributors that we are prioritizing orders to help serve our base business – including hospitals – due to high global demand.”

While we have not changed the prices we charge for 3M respirators as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, we cannot control the prices other dealers or retailers charge.

As this situation continues, we are closely monitoring and responding to any potential impact to our broader supply chain. Serving our customers is a top priority and our business teams are working diligently to communicate with individual customers about any potential disruptions.

As a business owner I do understand that supply cannot always keep up demand. Back in 2007 I was routinely telling customers there was a six week backorder for my products. You simply cannot count on being able to ramp up production at the drop of the hat. You are limited to the capital in workforce (Human Capital), raw materials (Natural Capital) and the machines/equipment required to produce the product (Physical Capital), that you have on hand as well as the time you have available each day for production. You don't build a successful business model by converting Financial Capital to those above to the point where you can easily over-saturate the market.

https://news.3m.com/blog/3m-stories/...el-coronavirus

[Hunt]

Trump latest move deregulated millions of N95 masks that previously were limited to construction work uses, think paint respirators. Additionally, they have found more ventilators and a way to repurpose others slated for elective surgery. They now have directed private industry to produce PPEs, including ventilators. Within a couple of weeks there should be ample supply. I am happy they moved so quick and aggressively, if Hillary was at the helm they would still be arguing about which identity of person should be the face of the gov't response, a fat black lady, a fat gay black guy, a soy boy millennial with ear rings and tatoos. Love the Trump transparency. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5EHxsuPSl8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qm_6TXnWhM

[ZX9ALLDAY]

My wife(rn) got into a argument with her supervisor. Her hospital is telling staff to not use masks and to ration them out... please sign this petition!!!

https://www.change.org/p/hospital-ad...5231975db54079

[Jongage]

Originally Posted by ZX9ALLDAY

My wife(rn) got into a argument with her supervisor. Her hospital is telling staff to not use masks and to ration them out... please sign this petition!!!

https://www.change.org/p/hospital-ad...5231975db54079

That wont do anything

[NoNameThanks]

Originally Posted by BB-Stacker

I'm curious why the President has a responsibility regarding PPE for hospital staff.

He doesn’t. But he has a responsibility to listen and react when the medical community warns of upcoming shortages or potential disasters. That was a failure in this case. Very little has been done at the federal level until the disaster has already occurred. We had months of lead time on this and knew COVID was going to hit our shores and hard. Many many warnings and many many public health workers flying the alert. This administration minimized it and did very little.

Originally Posted by BB-Stacker

True, the government has a obligation for aiding state and local agencies for disaster relief issues, but running out of PPE after a few weeks would appear as poor planning on the part of the hospital (medical community at-large).

For the first part, the government hasn’t done the disaster relief portion. ALL meaningful hard decisions and directives have come from local governments. This is NOT how you react to a pandemic. You need strong decisive federal leadership. You have the administration saying that people need to stop congregating, but not passing any executive orders or anything of any weight to do so. The administration was happy to ban travel quickly with countries the president isn’t fond of (EU and China) but hasn’t made any restrictions within our own borders. Weak leadership.

Many comments about the stock market and focus on how to inject money into the local economy but complete failure on supporting medical efforts. repeated promise about testing kids imminent and millions to be done and instead we got a half-baked federal response without emphasis or plans. The lack of testing (which continues) is going to result in many thousands or tens of thousands more lives. As is the failure to implement federal-level restrictions rather than wait for local governments (not that local governments are given that guidance, see lack of leadership).

Originally Posted by BB-Stacker

I could be full of horse feathers for sure of my observations here, but having been the Disaster Preparedness Officer for the largest naval base in the US (many years ago), emergency plans are based on worse case scenarios and an additional percentage for loss, defect and damage. We planned for contingencies of months and years, not weeks/months. Leaders and administrators are likely to fail when profits take precedence over mission readiness.

Aaaaamen. The focus on minimizing the danger that everyone reputable in the medical community was warning (it’ll blow over, it’s just a china thing, etc.) was prioritizing focus on the economy and stock market at the expense of listening to the experts and preparing. We may have weathered this better had we had good federal leadership but we didn’t. The president sent his son in law to post for suggestions on Facebook (true story!) which is how you got the “google� website solution and drive through testing at the parking lots. But we don’t have the masks or kits.

I’d disagree on ANY hospital, medical or otherwise, being prepped to handle something like this. No hospital system can maintain staffing or equipment to manage it. We rely on mitigation and suppression so that the system isn’t overwhelmed. And we never got that. Not a single federal restriction for stay-at-home, which would have saved tens of thousands of lives.

This is not an anti-Trump screed. It’s an anti-this-administrations response screed. I’m not aware of any other country’s government (including Italy) that has handled it as poorly as ours. And we’ll see the results in the next couple of weeks. I’d be delighted to be wrong.

Anywho, just supplying information. No desire to debate. If other frontline docs have differing takes or recommendations, I’d be happy to hear them. I’m not hearing anyone praise the administrations response that I know of that’s actually trying to fix this mess of our own creation.

[NoNameThanks]

Originally Posted by Hunt

Trump latest move deregulated millions of N95 masks that previously were limited to construction work uses, think paint respirators.

Yup. We’ll be forced to use non medical grade equipment because of a shortage of actual medical devices. How about a few executive order designed to actually decrease the spread of the disease?

Originally Posted by Hunt

They now have directed private industry to produce PPEs, including ventilators. Within a couple of weeks there should be ample supply.

“Within a couple of weeks� a couple of weeks ago there would be millions of test kits. It hasn’t happened. Nor has the equipment (the President told the governors to find their own!). The medical community keeps hearing “a couple of weeks� constantly but it’s all smoke and we’ve yet to see it. Just like the vaccine was just down the road (it’s a year away at best) or there are great treatments about to be rolled out (which the FDA refuted).

Come back here in 2 weeks and tell me about all the N95’s everyone is using in the ERs. I’ll be delighted to be proven wrong.

Originally Posted by Hunt

I am happy they moved so quick and aggressively

Quick and aggressive would have been decisive action weeks ago for testing and supplies. He waited until we created an unnecessary crisis.

Oi. The scene on the ground is very different from Fox News and Breitbart.

[Jongage]

I work for a city that has its own health department. There are only three in the state. Therefore we get pretty quick notification on status of stuff.

With the state of emergency, all supply orders go through the county health department, or in my case, the city. That is for all the hospitals, clinics etc have to request supplies through the new chain of command.
Her supervisors are stupidvisors, and dont know how to operate under these conditions.
So yes they are running low, they have to request through the chain, and use the supplies wisely. They cant just "mask" us like they used to.

[Jongage]

Originally Posted by NoNameThanks

Yup. We’ll be forced to use non medical grade equipment because of a shortage of actual medical devices. How about a few executive order designed to actually decrease the spread of the disease?

No. As someone who orders EMS, and emergency supplies I can tell you that once you put EMS, or RESCUE on an item, it doubles in price. I have ordered N95 masks online suppliers that have a different SKU number, but is the EXACT same product that is sold in lowes for 1/2 the price.

[Californio]

My daughter has been online only, for two weeks, the M3's and M4's are dividing by zero because of the PPE shortage in her AO. The discussion of putting M4's directly in the line of fire was this week, I would assume some negotiations with the licensing board and insurance companies are happening? If it does happen, I will post it.

Originally Posted by NoNameThanks

That will be when things are really nasty. Currently, medical schools are actually PULLING medical students out of many cases to keep them healthy in case we reach that stage. First and second years aren’t even attending classes in person at many medical schools right now. Third and fourth years are trying to be reallocated.

[JoyfulJoker]

My wife gets one mask a day, which means going from patient to patient with the same outfit. Someone sneezed on her today and they refused to give her a new mask. I bought a few boxes after the last fire.

[Den60]

Originally Posted by NoNameThanks

Yup. We’ll be forced to use non medical grade equipment because of a shortage of actual medical devices. How about a few executive order designed to actually decrease the spread of the disease?


“Within a couple of weeks� a couple of weeks ago there would be millions of test kits. It hasn’t happened. Nor has the equipment (the President told the governors to find their own!). The medical community keeps hearing “a couple of weeks� constantly but it’s all smoke and we’ve yet to see it. Just like the vaccine was just down the road (it’s a year away at best) or there are great treatments about to be rolled out (which the FDA refuted).

Come back here in 2 weeks and tell me about all the N95’s everyone is using in the ERs. I’ll be delighted to be proven wrong.


Quick and aggressive would have been decisive action weeks ago for testing and supplies. He waited until we created an unnecessary crisis.

Oi. The scene on the ground is very different from Fox News and Breitbart.

The federal government is not involved in the manufacture of N95 masks, never has been in fact. I noticed you didn't comment on my post where I posted directly from the 3M website nor what I said about the inability of companies to instantly ramp up production of a product due to high, and in this case excessive, demand.

Here is the important part:

While 3M manufactures millions of respirators per month at its production facilities, we expect demand for respirators and other supplies to outpace supply for the foreseeable future.

You can, once again, ignore the link below.

https://news.3m.com/blog/3m-stories/...el-coronavirus

[PaperTarget]

Originally Posted by Jongage

No. As someone who orders EMS, and emergency supplies I can tell you that once you put EMS, or RESCUE on an item, it doubles in price. I have ordered N95 masks online suppliers that have a different SKU number, but is the EXACT same product that is sold in lowes for 1/4 the price.

Interesting.
And interesting math.

[Jongage]

Yes fixed that.... You get the point...

[ZX9ALLDAY]

Originally Posted by Jongage

That wont do anything

Thanks for the support bud

[24mech]

Back to work. Still the same issues- from private hospitals, to the big group of hospitals, and also the far flung isolated ones it's the same problem...no masks/PPEs yet. Some hospitals are telling their staff not to bring their own masks on penalty of termination because they are not hospital approved. They are rationing out the masks / PPEs. One good thing is ERs are still reporting lower than normal bull**** cases and they are dedicating whole units as covid areas. Test kits are slowly becoming more common. Sooooo... if those damned PPEs and masks come in then our frontliners have a chance and so does our patients.

[miglo]

Originally Posted by tsmithson

I have been blowing that same whistle for awhile.
America has been caught with its pants down.
Where are the masks?
One Hospital getting it from another Hospital because the supplier has none.
Is not comforting.

You can thank Obama for not replenishing the supplies.

[miglo]

Originally Posted by NoNameThanks

He has referred to the coronavirus as “their new hoax” the democrats are using to demonize him.

The president has consistently minimized the virus and the problem, he has talked about expectations that it the virus count would go down when every reputable doctor and epidemiologist told him it wouldn’t, and he indicated there was never a shortage of supplies or testing kits (when those in the healthcare system who know have been ringing the alarm). He only stopped minimizing the problem when the markets tanked and he saw that he couldn’t reverse them, so now he’s positioning himself as a “wartime president.” But he’s STILL not taking decisive action and we’re losing lives.

I work in an ER. Most ERs and ICUs are not using the level of protection we need because of supply shortages in which most PPEs will be exhausted in a matter of weeks.

Trump can pivot all he wants on this one, his denials of the problem, lack of attention to shortages and needs, and late acknowledgment of the scope has put us WAY behind the 8-ball on this and the death toll is going to reflect it.

You obviously hate Trump. Where is your link that he specifically said "this virus is a hoax"? He has acknowledge shortages and have ramped up production where ever he can. In fact, he was the FIRST to shut down travel with China as well as closing our borders to stop the spread. Italy and most of the world did not do this and they are paying the price. Does this sound like a leader that thinks this is a "hoax"? You can't just magically bring an offline factory back to life that's been scuttled for years. You want an instant solution to a decade long problem of moving manufacturing out of country.

I get it the hospital systems are a mess right now due to a ton of fear. I'm also a doc for a major hospital system up north. We are practically locking out clinicians that want to visit us due to lack of PPE and limiting exposure. Everyone is scared and everyone is pissed off at China.

[miglo]

Originally Posted by NoNameThanks

Yup. We’ll be forced to use non medical grade equipment because of a shortage of actual medical devices. How about a few executive order designed to actually decrease the spread of the disease?

“Within a couple of weeks� a couple of weeks ago there would be millions of test kits. It hasn’t happened. Nor has the equipment (the President told the governors to find their own!). The medical community keeps hearing “a couple of weeks� constantly but it’s all smoke and we’ve yet to see it. Just like the vaccine was just down the road (it’s a year away at best) or there are great treatments about to be rolled out (which the FDA refuted).

Come back here in 2 weeks and tell me about all the N95’s everyone is using in the ERs. I’ll be delighted to be proven wrong.

Quick and aggressive would have been decisive action weeks ago for testing and supplies. He waited until we created an unnecessary crisis.

Oi. The scene on the ground is very different from Fox News and Breitbart.

You expect Trump to magically make millions of masks, millions of testing kits and thousands of vents to magically appear, when there is a world-wide shortage. How exactly is this going to be accomplished? Try to buy more from China? LOL. We can only produce so much so fast with the current state of manufacturing. I'm one of the 60% that thinks he is doing the best he can with what he has.

You are being ridiculous with your expectations. You ignore the fact China and the WHO has been hiding just how dangerous this actually was. I suppose Hillary or Biden would have been a better choice in your mind on handling this.

I'm sure if Trump came up with a 100% cure you would complain he is putting infectious disease out of business.