Coronavirus: preparing for crisis, hospitals across US struggle under financial strain, equipment shortages
- Medical facilities in smaller American cities and rural areas face grim reckoning as Covid-19 spreads
- Halt in non-essential, revenue-generating surgeries and procedures pummels hospitals’ bottom lines
A Salt Lake City library is churning out 3D-printed face shields. Nurses and medical assistants in Minnesota and Arizona are being asked to take unpaid furlough because of revenue declines. Medical experts in Colorado are preparing to make choices after determining who among their Covid-19 patients they expect will live.
Across America, hospitals and the communities they serve are bracing for the worst as coronavirus cases rise in every state.
As the New York City area announces hundreds of deaths daily, hospitals in smaller cities and rural communities are scrambling to prepare, and in many cases they are already reckoning with the devastating economic crisis the pandemic has caused.
A federal watchdog agency reported on Monday that three out of four of the 323 hospitals it surveyed were treating coronavirus patients. The report painted a grim picture, with a diverse array of problems exacerbated by an insufficient number of beds, tests and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Speaking to The Nevada Independent, health care workers described the eerie, contradictory reality of many hospitals today: hallways silent with most visitors discouraged, procedures postponed and many patients kept in isolation.
