Mark Lennihan/AP Photo
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, and Mayor Bill de Blasio discuss the state and city's preparedness for the spread of the coronavirus, Monday, March 2, 2020, in New York.
- The coronavirus pandemic threatens to push hospital capacities to the limits.
- "We're going to have a real problem," when the cases hit their peak, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference Monday, noting in particular that there won't be enough hospital beds.
- The US has fewer hospital beds per capita compared to countries like South Korea and Italy that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 virus.
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As the coronavirus spreads in the US, leaders are worried hospitals are going to start running out of beds.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference Monday that the country will face the "real problem" of hospital capacity when the number of coronavirus cases hits its apex and "descends on the healthcare system."
At that point, Cuomo said, the country "will not have enough hospital beds, period."
Cuomo called on President Donald Trump to send the Army Corps of Engineers to build temporary healthcare centers, in an opinion piece in the New York Times.
He noted that New York state has 53,470 hospital beds, of which 3,186 are in intensive care units. Intensive care units, or ICUs, are the part of the hospital devoted to providing advanced life-saving care.
Read more: An Italian doctor at the epicenter of the coronavirus response shares his best advice for the US to avoid being overwhelmed by the pandemic
By some estimates, millions of Americans sickened by coronavirus might end up in the hospital. Nearly 2 million could require care in an ICU.
That will likely put a strain on staff, tax supplies of equipment like ventilators and masks, and put facilities at risk of running out of room.
The Army Corps, Cuomo said, has access to medical equipment that states currently have difficulty accessing.
"Everybody wants ventilators. Everybody's looking for oxygen tanks," Cuomo said. "The federal government has a stockpile of emergency medical equipment. But suffice it to say, if the federal government doesn't step up and doesn't step up quickly, states are going to be forced to do whatever they can do on their own. And New York is going to be doing exactly that."
In response, President Donald Trump said on Monday that states should look for ways to get access to the emergency medical equipment like ventilators themselves.
Pushing hospitals to their limits
Adding to the challenge, the US has fewer hospital beds per 1,000 people compared to places like Japan, South Korea, and Italy that have also been hit hard by the virus.
But not all beds are necessarily created equal. Right now, hospitals need special rooms that can isolate people with contagious diseases like the coronavirus, known as negative pressure rooms. And ICU rooms are also in demand.
"There's beds, and then there's ICU beds in a negative pressure room," said Soumi Saha, a senior director of advocacy at Premier, which works with hospitals around the US.
To increase capacity, she said, EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, Washington, an early epicenter of the US COVID-19 outbreak, put 58 patients in 15 negative pressure rooms that typically hold one patient each. Premier is set to survey the hospitals it works with to get a sense of how much added ICU capacity each is able to make in light of the outbreak beyond their normal capacities.
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