Head of Houston Methodist Hospital System: “We appear to be near the tipping point.”
Houston Public Doctor: “How do we manage the ambulance traffic when we’ve got all or nearly all hospitals saying they can’t take another ambulance?”
Johns Hopkins Senior Scholar: “Even where transmission is intensifying, the will to correct course has seemingly waned.”
Across the country, coronavirus cases are soaring after states pushed to reopen at Trump’s urging without the proper testing, isolation, and contact tracing measures in place to control the spread of the virus. New daily cases have reached levels not seen since April, and seven states are reporting all time highs for current coronavirus hospitalizations.
Hospitals in hard hit communities are facing a dire situation: just as New York hospitals were in March, doctors across the south face having to decide who gets treatment as coronavirus spreads faster than health systems can keep up. Despite tens of thousands of Americans falling ill each day, President Trump is encouraging states to push ahead with reopening. This resolve to reopen at the expense of human life means the worst is yet to come.
Here’s a look at the situation on the ground and what experts are saying about it:
Doctors And Hospital Administrators Warn That Trump’s Push For States To Reopen Early Has Led Crowded Hospitals To A Boiling Crisis
- Will Humble, Executive Director Of The Arizona Public Health Association: Hospitals Might Go Into “Crisis Standards Of Care.” “‘People are being admitted to hospital beds and being admitted to ICU (intensive care unit) beds faster than they’re being discharged,’ said Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association. With about 84% of the state’s ICU beds already full, Humble said he’s worried hospitals will go into ‘crisis standards of care,’ which basically means ‘lower care for everybody, not just people with Covid-19.’” [CNN, 6/23/20]
- Dr. Marc Boom, Head Of The Houston Methodist Hospital System: “We Appear To Be Near The Tipping Point.” “‘We appear to be nearing the tipping point,’ Dr. Marc Boom, head of the Houston Methodist hospital system, wrote in an email to employees Friday. ‘Should the number of new cases grow too rapidly, it will eventually challenge our ability to treat both COVID-19 and non-COVID 19 patients.’” [KWTX, 6/24/20]
- Dr. Faisal Masud, Houston Methodist Hospital’s ICU Lead: Influx Of ICU Patients Is “Not Good,” “Has To Stop.” “’In the last 5 days, ICU admissions have risen 30 or 40 percent,” Masud said. “We are very, very full. Initially, the uptick has been more than regular’… ‘This has to stop. This is not good,’ Masud said. ‘After Memorial Day, this is what has happened. Everything depends upon people complying with these mask orders and businesses actually enforcing the orders.’” [Houston Chronicle, 6/19/20]
- Dr. Don Williamson, Head Of Alabama Hospital Association: “I Am Worried That The Virus Is Now Ahead Of Us And We Aren’t Doing Enough As Individuals To Contain It.” “Dr. Don Williamson, a former state health officer who now heads the Alabama Hospital Association says hospitals are managing for now but the trends are worrying. ‘This is the first day you’ll hear me say these words: I am now worried,’ Williamson said. ‘I am worried that the virus is now ahead of us and we aren’t doing enough as individuals to contain it.’ Williamson said only about 16% of total ICU beds are empty, and in some areas like Montgomery ‘we essentially have none.’” [Associated Press, 6/21/20]
- Anita Kurian, Head Of The Communicable Disease Division Of Metropolitan Health District In San Antonio, Warned That Staffed Hospital Beds Were “Fast Diminishing” And That They Were Going To Be In “Deep Trouble” If Same Trend Of New Infection Continues. “Anita Kurian, head of the communicable disease division at the Metropolitan Health District, said the availability of staffed hospital beds, about 28 percent, was ‘fast diminishing,’ raising the possibility that hospitals would need to curtail elective procedures, as they did at the beginning of the pandemic. ‘If we keep seeing the same trend of new infection that we’ve been seeing in the past two weeks, we are going to be in deep trouble pretty soon,’ she said.” [San Antonio Express News, 6/23/20]
- Arizona Dr. Frank LoVecchio Stated That Hospitals In The State Have Been “Overwhelmed With Covid Patients.” “‘Each day I’ve been going into work over the last month is worse, and what I mean by worse is … just overwhelmed with COVID patients,’ said Dr. Frank LoVecchio, who works in several Arizona hospitals in emergency medicine and public health. LoVecchio, who works with the Banner Health, the Valleywise Health and the Abrazo Health systems in Arizona, said hospitals have been very good about getting everyone personal protective equipment, or PPE, and offering counseling help lines for providers. Hospitals had been doing the best they could, he said, converting space to handle the increase in COVID patients.” [NBC News, 6/24/20]
- Dr. David Persse, Houston’s Chief Public Health Doctor: “How Do We Manage The Ambulance Traffic When We’ve Got All Or Nearly All Hospitals Saying They Can’t Take Another Ambulance?” “When David Persse, Houston’s chief public health doctor, looks at the increasingly steep curves of Covid-19 cases in the Texas metropolis, he sees devilish decisions ahead. ‘How do we manage the ambulance traffic when we’ve got all or nearly all hospitals saying they can’t take another ambulance? What are we going to do?’ he has been asking, as local hospitals fill up. ‘Nobody has a good answer.”’ The emergency room physician-turned-health department official is just one of many public health leaders in Houston raising the alarm as the city becomes one of America’s new Covid hotspots. Their warnings — of dwindling spare capacity at hospitals, difficulty obtaining protective equipment and an inability to contain the spread of the virus — echo those of places such as New York City in the early stages of their outbreaks.” [Financial Times, 6/24/20]
- Dr. Persse Described Patients On Stretchers In ER Corridors And A Looming Staffing Shortage. “Inside the two fullest public hospitals in Houston, Dr Persse described patients on stretchers in emergency department corridors, some forced to double up in rooms meant for one, and stressed nurses rushing everywhere. Harris county, which includes Houston, could run out of existing intensive care beds in 11 days, on current trends, although surge capacity would be enough to manage for a further 27 days after that. Houston hospitals have elaborate plans to put patients into operating rooms and doctor’s offices, Dr Persse said, but that leaves open the question of how to expand the staff that takes care of them.” [Financial Times, 6/24/20]
- Texas Children’s Hospital Has Begun Admitting Adult Patients Because Of The Surge Of Covid-19 Patients In The Houston Area. “Adults with [COVID-19] will be cared for in an expanded special isolation unit at the hospital’s west Houston campus, said a spokeswoman. She also said that as part of its assistance freeing up space for other hospitals, Texas Children’s is taking adult patients who don’t have COVID-19 as well. This is the first time during the pandemic that Texas Children’s has had to invoke the plan. The plan was prepared in advance of the April surge of patients but turned out not to be needed then.” [Houston Chronicle, 6/22/20]
- Dr. Catherine O’Neal Of Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center In Baton Rouge, Louisiana: “Our Community Is In Danger Again.” “Dr. Catherine O’Neal with Our Lady of the Lake says the virus can spread anywhere from 3 to 14 days, so that means it could have come from any large event held recently where masks and social distancing may not have been a priority— including Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, and recent protests. ‘Our community is in danger again,’ said Dr. O’Neal. ‘Social activity spreads this disease unless you’re social distancing and masking, and so we’re seeing that play out.’” [WFAB9, 6/23/20]
Experts Warn That Trump’s Push To Abandon Social Distancing Is The Reason For A Rapid Spike In Cases And A Prolonged Outbreak That Is “Far From Over”
- Johns Hopkins Center For Health Security Senior Scholar Dr. Caitlin Rivers Explained That National Cases Returning To April Levels Was Particularly Concerning Because “At Least Then There Was Energy Around Gaining Control. I Sense Less Of That Now.” “At the national level, we are clocking case counts reminiscent of April. This is bad news – we are headed in the wrong direction. In 3 of the last 5 days we’ve registered over 30k per day… But even where transmission is intensifying, the will to correct course has seemingly waned. It’s hard to imagine how we will get to a better place. In some ways this feels worse than April bc at least then there was energy around gaining control. I sense less of that now.” [Twitter, Caitlin Rivers, 6/24/20]
- Dr. Erik Toner Of The Johns Hopkins Center For Health Security Warned That Per Capita Rates Of Infections In Small Southern Towns Could Reach As High As When New York City Was At Its Peak. “The spike in coronavirus cases in Florida, Arizona, Oregon and other Southern and Western states can be traced back to around Memorial Day, when officials began loosening their lockdowns, health experts said Monday. And in about two weeks, hospitals in those states could find themselves struggling to find enough beds for patients, one of the nation’s top public health experts warned. ‘In some smaller Southern towns, the per capita rates of infections could be as high as New York City was at its peak,’ Dr. Erik Toner of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said.” [NBC News, 6/24/20]
- California Public Health Director Dr. Sonia Angell: “This Is Far From Over.” “‘This is far from over,’ Dr. Sonia Angell, the state’s public health director, said in a statement Tuesday. ‘Increased testing will continue to detect more cases, but this only serves as evidence that COVID-19 is in our communities. As we move more, we are at greater risk. Continued increases in COVID-19 cases are expected and likewise, hospitalizations are starting to increase.’” [KCRA, 6/23/20]
- Siouxsie Wiles, An Infectious-Diseases Specialist At The University Of Auckland In New Zealand: “It Really Does Feel Like The U.S. Has Given Up.” “‘It really does feel like the U.S. has given up,’ said Siouxsie Wiles, an infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand — a country that has confirmed only three new cases over the past three weeks and where citizens have now largely returned to their pre-coronavirus routines. ‘I can’t imagine what it must be like having to go to work knowing it’s unsafe,’ Wiles said of the U.S.-wide economic reopening. ‘It’s hard to see how this ends. There are just going to be more and more people infected, and more and more deaths. It’s heartbreaking.’” [Washington Post, 6/19/20]
- Pulitzer Prize Winning Science Journalist: “Where Social Distancing Policies Have Largely Been Observed, As In The NE, Cases Are Declining. But Where States Rushed To Reopen, Cases Are Soaring.” “The differences in #COVID19 trends by US region are stark. Where social distancing policies have largely been observed, as in the NE, cases are declining. But where States rushed to reopen, cases are soaring. It won’t be long, before the South surpasses NE’s mid-April peak.” [Twitter, Laurie Garrett, 6/24/20]
- Dr. Erik Toner Of The Johns Hopkins Center For Health Security Predicted That Outbreaks In Southern And Western States Would Get Worse Because The Population Has Not Been Wearing Masks And Practicing Social Distancing. “‘It’s basically the same reason for all these states: It was Memorial Day,’ Toner said. ‘And in the last week of May, most states began to seriously relax community mitigation efforts.’ Toner said that as lockdowns are relaxed, ‘we will see a rise in coronavirus cases.’ ‘The question is how high will they rise,’ he said. ‘Oregon, for example, has done a good job of dealing with the pandemic, and if people adhere to wearing face masks and social distancing, it may not be bad. But some Southern and Western states have gone out of their way to not wear face masks or practice social distancing, and we expect it to be much worse.’” [NBC News, 6/24/20]