Virus hot spots racing to add beds, gear — and some hope
Coronavirus patients are pouring into hospitals across the American South and West, straining front-line doctors and nurses and draining supplies of protective gear and testing equipment, according to health care workers throughout the country.
In pandemic hot-spot states such as Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, hospitals are adding new intensive care unit beds and special airflow systems to treat the growing demand as virus hospitalizations set records almost daily. Medical staff members warn that they could become overwhelmed.
The United States passed 3 million cases Wednesday, and more than 128,000 people have died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Hospitalizations are rising quickly in several states.
Florida is rushing about 100 health care workers to MiamiDade County’s public hospital network to handle the influx of coronavirus cases. But Miami hospital workers fear that might not be enough.
The large Jackson Health System in Miami has opened new floors and new units to handle the increasing number of patients, said Lilian Abbo, the hospital’s head of infection prevention. “If we continue this trend, we may not have enough staff,” she said.
Health care workers in hardhit states say they are rationing protective gear such as N95 masks. Some say they use one mask per day now, as opposed to throwing them out after each use.
Two nurses at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional retribution, said nurses are being provided one gown per day, sometimes moving among confirmed COVID-19 patients and suspected patients without changing their gear and with minimal cleaning supplies. Some are now using nonmedical N95s and pairing them with surgical masks to make the coverings waterproof.
“The standards have been lowered so much the attitude is basically, ‘Put the best protection you can on your eyes and mouth, and go for it,’ ” one nurse said.
Health care workers are now juggling incoming patients, searching for open beds in their own hospitals or at others in the area. Sometimes, patients are held in the emergency room for far longer than they would be normally.
One emergency room doctor in Houston, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from his employer, said he once saw a man waiting for a transfer linger in the emergency room for more than three days because no hospitals within 50 miles had room.
Cindy Zolnierek, head of the Texas Nurses Association, said some hospitals are implementing “just-in-time” training to boost their staff members. Registered nurses who would normally be helping monitor ventilation and assisting in operating rooms are now being called to assist on COVID-19 floors. And many nurses are dealing with the emotional fallout.
“I’m hearing nurses are feeling a lot of distress from how these patients are decompensating so quickly. One moment, someone looks OK. An hour later they’re crashing,” Zolnierek said. “Some of them are young, and unless you work in trauma, you’re not used to seeing young people so, so sick and barely hanging on. So that takes an emotional toll.”