Doctors urge stricter response
Want more testing, more restrictions on movement
More than 1,000 Bay State physicians warned Gov. Charlie Baker in a letter that unless Massachusetts ramps up coronavirus testing, provides more protective gear and takes further steps to restrict public movement, the health care system could collapse, leading to an unprecedented loss of life.
“Every day of delay results in doubled or tripled loss of life,” the letter, sent Wednesday to Baker and Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders, said. “More people could die from COVID-19 in just a few months than have died in every single war this country has fought since its inception.”
The physicians urged mobilizing heads of corporations and community organizations to produce, purchase and provide personal protective equipment for health care providers, both to protect them and to prevent them from spreading the virus from infected patients. The physicians also called on courier companies, the postal service and the National Guard to deliver the protective gear to the health care force.
“The shortage of PPE is an emergency,” one that is forcing doctors to choose between their own lives and the lives of their patients, said Dr. Karen Leitner, a primary-caretrained physician and patient advocate.
“No one would imagine sending firefighters into a blazing fire without proper clothing and equipment,” the letter said, “but our physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers are being asked to treat COVID-19 patients without protective gear.”
The physicians also called on the governor and secretary to purchase and provide the now-FDA-approved test for coronavirus, allowing them to diagnose the disease in as few as 45 minutes. And they called for the establishment of
COVID-19 testing centers for both symptomatic and asymptomatic people.
In a statement Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services said: “A core function of the COVID-19 Response Command Center is working with hospitals to identify their capacity and resources in order to prepare the Commonwealth for a surge in COVID-19 medical needs and hospitalizations.”
The state also has engaged the National Guard, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers to identify and prepare additional facilities to help deal with a future surge, she said.
However the EOHHS did not address the shortage of personal protective equipment.