Quote:
Originally Posted by dirk digler
I posted what my daughter told me today, they are rationing supplies and only get 1 PPE per day. It hasn't even ramped up yet in KC and they were told they expect to peak in mid May but their ICU is almost full of COVID patients now. Sharing PPE goes against every infectious disease protocol ever written.
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And what's going to continue to have to happen is that supply will have to follow demand.
It's odd to me that their ICU is packed unless they're just a small hospital. MU has something like 80 critical care beds and as of last night they had 3 in ICU, despite some of the best testing rates in the region.
And yeah, sharing PPE isn't great. It's a stop-gap that is being addressed on a daily basis. And while sharing PPE goes against protocol, protocol is also ideal situation stuff. Doing things like layering a basic surgical mask over an N95 mask and then swapping out the surgical masks between patients isn't the best thing to do...but it's not a facially awful thing to do either. If ideal scenarios yield a 95% reduction in transmission and the 'layered' approach yields a 70% reduction - clearly the former is what you base your protocol on.
But the latter isn't shite. Nor is it permanent.
At this point we can't let perfect be the enemy of good. Supply chains and manufacturing capabilities are being ramped up on a wartime scale. It's coming. The concerns are heard and are being addressed.