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WaPo: The U.S. health system is showing why it's not ready for a coronavirus pandemic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-us-health-system-is-showing-why-its-not-ready-for-a-coronavirus-pandemic/2020/03/04/7c307bb4-5d61-11ea-b29b-9db42f7803a7_story.html
Medics transport a person on a stretcher into an ambulance at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a long-term care facility linked to several confirmed coronavirus cases, in Washington state. (David Ryder/Reuters)
By Christopher Rowland and Peter Whoriskey
March 4, 2020 at 12:42 p.m. EST
The growing coronavirus outbreak in the United States is revealing serious gaps in the health system’s ability to respond to a major epidemic, forcing hospitals and doctors to update and improvise emergency plans on a daily basis even as they remain uncertain how bad the crisis will get.
Nursing homes are emerging as especially vulnerable to the virus, with more than a million residents, many of them frail, and many facilities with a history of struggling to contain even mundane infections.
But the gaps are spread out across the country and affect medical facilities of all types.
In Rhode Island, where two cases have been detected, doctors in protective garb were testing patients with mild symptoms in the hospital parking lot rather than allowing them to enter the emergency room. Officials said the emergency measure was being wound down Tuesday as the state’s testing capacity grows.
Reporters and photographers work at the site in South Seattle where King County will be placing temporary housing units like the one shown here to house patients undergoing treatment and isolation in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
Officials in King County in Washington this week said they were purchasing a motel to house patients who needed to be placed in isolation.
</snip>
Medics transport a person on a stretcher into an ambulance at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a long-term care facility linked to several confirmed coronavirus cases, in Washington state. (David Ryder/Reuters)
By Christopher Rowland and Peter Whoriskey
March 4, 2020 at 12:42 p.m. EST
The growing coronavirus outbreak in the United States is revealing serious gaps in the health system’s ability to respond to a major epidemic, forcing hospitals and doctors to update and improvise emergency plans on a daily basis even as they remain uncertain how bad the crisis will get.
Nursing homes are emerging as especially vulnerable to the virus, with more than a million residents, many of them frail, and many facilities with a history of struggling to contain even mundane infections.
But the gaps are spread out across the country and affect medical facilities of all types.
In Rhode Island, where two cases have been detected, doctors in protective garb were testing patients with mild symptoms in the hospital parking lot rather than allowing them to enter the emergency room. Officials said the emergency measure was being wound down Tuesday as the state’s testing capacity grows.
Reporters and photographers work at the site in South Seattle where King County will be placing temporary housing units like the one shown here to house patients undergoing treatment and isolation in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
Officials in King County in Washington this week said they were purchasing a motel to house patients who needed to be placed in isolation.
</snip>
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