Depending on how fast the coronavirus spreads, professionals say the US ought to have as many as 1 million instances of the deadly virus. Experts say there are only 100,000 ventilators on hand to treat the patients.
Blue Water Taco Grill remains open for takeout and delivery amid the coronavirus outbreak in Seattle, Washington, U.S., March 16, 2020.
Experts explain there are still no federal disaster regulations or standards in place throughout the country for those who get access to scarce sources, like coronavirus testing. The nation also lacks a consistent appeals process for people who get rejected for access to the system, experts added.
The coronavirus pandemic has been blamed for 6,500 deaths around the globe. There have been more than 4,500 showed instances and 79 deaths from the infection in the US.
Pieces of health care equipment could be scare due to varied local disaster
Experts warn that as long as country and local disaster plans range in scope and quality, the current number of health care devices could very quickly emerge as scarce, Science & Health reviews.
The concern has been around since the 2009 swine flu outbreak that claimed 575,000 lives as the World Health Organization declared the global pandemic over.
Experts note there was progress; however, the lack of a national standard for dealing with crises creates a collective threat for communities, instead of just individuals.
For example, a study of 44,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in mainland China reveals that 81 percent of these infections had mild cases of the disease.
The other 19 percent suffered excessive pneumonia or worse, and most possibly required hospitalization and breathing assistance.
That could subsequently translate into masses of hundreds of people becoming significantly ill, and probably millions, relying on the rate of infection, say experts.
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Whooping numbers could cause deadly results
Given the scant resources that may arise in a crisis, those records could show to have deadly results. Brendan Carr, chairwoman of emergency medicine on the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, said hospitals do not have the capacity for treating such numbers.
Nationally, hospitals only have limited funding available and have been declining for years. Modern healthcare reported that Hospitals' median working margin reached 1.7% in 2018, down from 1.8% in 2017.
Christopher Kerns, executive director at the Advisory Board, said a more sustainable operating margin would be around 2.5 percent.
According to Carr, hospitals have been focusing on service efficiency while depleting medical stocks. It's a system that works until there's an unexpected occasion that strains an order to the factor that it can't meet demand.
Carr explained hospitals can't have extra capacity and efficiency at the same time. "In fact, for years, we've called that waste," he added.
The loss of a uniform standard makes it challenging to quantify how many hospitals do not have enough extra potential for emergencies. There is no way of telling what 'good capability' looks like, says John Hick, medical director for emergency preparedness at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis.
For example, in a few elements of the country, including New York, Carr said patients staying on gurneys kept in hallways due to a lack of rooms is "normal."
"In other places that could be out of the question," Hick said.
