We all know about the COVID-19 pandemic and most of us are living under new restrictions it has brought with it. There is much fear and panic happening, from stockpiling common household items to rushing the doctor asking to be tested. The world watched as China suffered from its onslaught, yet we as a country did little to prepare for its arrival on our shores.
Our first biggest failure is the lack of test kits being available. These should have been readily on hand in order to test contacts of those infected. By doing this, those contacts could be quarantined and tested, thereby limiting the spread of this disease. Unfortunately, we missed this chance to contain the contagion. COVID-19 has been unleased and is now spread through community acquired transmission.
Though we now have more tests available, it is too late to coral this pandemic by tracking contacts alone. People who are coming down with symptoms this week were probably infected last week when there was no way to test them. Now, to continue to offer testing to asymptomatic people or those with mild symptoms, is wasting supplies that is needed in hospitals for critically ill patients. It also putting more people to be at risk by being around others, even if just traveling to the testing site.
While most states now have stay at home orders from state governors, it only happened when the number of cases sky-rocketed. This means that there are many more people infected before these measures were put into place. We have no idea how many at this point because many people have mild, or even no, signs or symptoms. Yes, these regulations are completely necessary to save lives, but it should have happened sooner.
Panic buying wiped out many medical supplies that healthcare workers on the frontlines are now running out of. These workers are face-to-face with the pathogen on a daily basis. Everyone heard of the dire shortage of N95 masks, the only ones that are effective in blocking transmission of the virus. Even exam gloves are now a hard commodity to find. When people started depleting the supplies, there was no increased production for those battling this disease. Governors are now begging the federal government for PPE (personal protective equipment) for their healthcare workers. And the answers they receive are slow in coming. Again, these supplies should have been redistributed to the battle zones weeks ago.
Hospitals are now in dire straits, running out of ICU beds and ventilators. Will we wait until we have to let patients die before initiating a respond to these pleas? We are already weeks behind where we should be. We need to set up field hospitals and get vents to the hardest hit areas, like NYC. We are approaching maximum capacity and still have weeks to months to endure this pandemic.
Non-essential workers have been ordered home, not knowing how they’re going to able to afford to live. Many have been instructed to file for unemployment, but how long will this take? People need these funds now. Will this be another failure of the system?
The POTUS claims he wants America to reopen by Easter. Yet, most medical experts say it will be months until this should happens. What will this pandemic look like when our leader cares more about the country’s financial solvency than it does about the lives and health of its citizens? Other countries are now making tough decisions about who they can give life saving treatments to and who they need to leave just die because there are not enough resources available. For example, in Italy, doctors are no longer ventilating anyone over 60 years of age. Do we want to be forced to make the same tough choices here?
The US healthcare system, as well as our political leaders, have failed to prepare for this pandemic that we witnessed played out in other countries before reaching our shores. We had several weeks heads-up to know what COVID-19 is and what it can potentially do. Yet, it reached us unprepared and we’ve been struggling to catch up ever since. We are still weeks behind where we should be in this war. Can we catch up? Our system will tolerate no more failures; this is our breaking point.
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