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So the question according to those numbers is, are we prepared to hospitalize 10% of the 30% of people who may get infected in the United States? In particular,

by gdubs 7y ago

So the question according to those numbers is, are we prepared to hospitalize 10% of the 30% of people who may get infected in the United States? In particular, do we have enough ventilation beds, the isolation infrastructure, the staffing? During a crisis you’d want daily briefings where questions like these could be asked. I’ve said in other threads: it feels like the US is sleepwalking through this. If the CDC believes, as they said last week, that this will spread inevitably — what exactly are we waiting for? We have two cases of unknown origin in Santa Clara county, yet schools are still open as of now. Wouldn’t it make sense to close them for two weeks now to hopefully slow the spread and give us additional time to ramp up our medical response?

tessierashpool 7y ago
we definitely do not have enough hospital beds. as for the CDC, the Trump administration gutted the CDC in 2018. they fired its leadership and dramatically reduced its budget. they went to Congress last week or so for an emergency $2.5B, which is better than nothing, but $25B would have been a more realistic number. House leaders were basically complaining like "you should have asked us for more money." Trump et al also put Mike Pence in charge of the situation last week. Trump said, when announcing that Pence would be in charge, that "he's got a talent for this." however, as governor of Indiana, Pence prioritized ideology over public health, and the state experienced an HIV outbreak due to his leadership (a subsequent Yale study found the outbreak was entirely preventable). long story short: yes, the Federal government's response is extremely inadequate. it will probably continue to be inadequate throughout the crisis.