Crisis as coronavirus cases mount

Hospitals in crisis as coronavirus cases mount, HHS watchdog says

Many hospitals lack enough thermometers to monitor the temperatures of its own staff.

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN

Widespread shortages of protective gear and other supplies, testing delays and difficulty maintaining adequate staffing threatens U.S. hospitals' ability to respond to the coronavirus crisis as the number of cases continues to grow, a government audit found.

The bleak picture in the report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general is based on interviews with administrators from 324 hospitals and health systems between March 23 to March 27 and echo reports from the front lines about the health system's fragility.

Many hospitals lacked enough thermometers to monitor the temperatures of its own staff and a sufficient number of masks to protect their workers while caring for infected patients.

One hospital administrator said the mask supply would be depleted in three days. Another respondent said his system's regular supplier would take three to six months to obtain more masks and other gear due to the global rush for limited supplies. A third administrator said he fears tight supplies “endangers [staff] lives and the lives of their families.”

And, as more workers become sick from the virus, staffing shortages have become a top concern, especially for respiratory specialists.

“You can build thousands of ventilators, but you need an army to manage that equipment and care for those patients,” one administrator said.

Hospitals also reported shortages of ventilators, IV poles, bed sheets, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and other basic equipment.

They have not been able to count on shipments from the federal strategic stockpile, which have been not only few and far between but often contain defective and unusable gear, the report found. In desperation, many facilities have turned to “new, sometimes un-vetted, and non-traditional sources” to obtain gear, often at exorbitant cost. One hospital is now paying $6 apiece for masks that used to cost 50 cents each.

The national failure to quickly distribute test kits and process samples is also squeezing hospitals, with some patients taking up bed space for a week or more while they wait for results.

“Millions [of tests] are needed, and we only have hundreds,” said one hospital administrator.