Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, Chief of Engineers and commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, talks with Rachel Maddow about how the Army Corps of Engineers works with other federal agencies and state and local authorities to modify existing facilities to provide much needed expansion of hospital capacity in the face of mounting COVID-19 cases. Aired on 3/26/20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCsidYDqWo0
“I have no idea what’s awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.” Albert Camus, “The Plague” (1947)
AP PHOTOS: Italy’s front-line medical heroes, in portraits https://apnews.com/206a7a7a0264a17fdceff40c433a7613 “…Sometimes hospital workers don’t drink water or any liquids during their 8-, 10-, or 12-hour shifts so they don’t have to go to the bathroom and disrobe. They follow strict protocols while taking off their hazmat suits, gloves and masks, knowing that one wrong move could mean they, too, will catch the virus.
Already, more than 7,100 health care workers around the country have. They are sent home to recover and report back to work when they test negative. Their absences are sorely felt, creating more work for those left standing. More than 50 doctors never recovered and are counted among the dead.”
“Hospitals consider universal do-not-resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients : Worry that ‘all hands’ responses may expose doctors and nurses to infection prompts debate about prioritizing the survival of the many over the one” (Washington Post 3/25/20) https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/25/coronavirus-patients-do-not-resucitate/
Lewis Kaplan, president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and a University of Pennsylvania surgeon, described how colleagues at different institutions are sharing draft policies to address their changed reality.
“We are now on crisis footing,” he said. “What you take as first-come, first-served, no-holds-barred, everything-that-is-available-should-be-applied medicine is not where we are. We are now facing some difficult choices in how we apply medical resources — including staff.”
The new protocols are part of a larger rationing of lifesaving procedures and equipment — including ventilators — that is quickly becoming a reality here as in other parts of the world battling the virus. The concerns are not just about health-care workers getting sick but also about them potentially carrying the virus to other patients in the hospital.
Eideard 
A New York City nurse dies from the coronavirus. Angry co-workers blame a lack of protective gear. https://www.boston.com/news/national-news-2/2020/03/26/new-york-city-nurse-dies-coronavirus
Worker at NYC hospital where nurses wear trash bags as protection dies from coronavirus https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/nursing/worker-nyc-hospital-where-nurses-wear-trash-bags-protection-dies-coronavirus
Photo shows NY hospital staff using trash bags as protective gear https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/489622-photo-shows-staff-using-trash-bags-as-protective-gear-in-hospital-system
Healthcare workers in New York City are being told to keep returning to work, even if they have tested positive for the coronavirus, as the city’s hospitals battle against the worst outbreak in the United States with 23,112 infections and 365 deaths as of early Friday morning. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8159767/Doctors-exposed-coronavirus-told-CONTINUE-working.html
Some NYC hospitals overrun with dying patients, health workers worry they will be next
https://www.pix11.com/news/coronavirus/some-nyc-hospitals-overrun-with-dying-patients-health-workers-worry-they-will-be-next
One New York doctor’s story: ‘Too many patients dying alone’ https://www.arabnews.com/node/1648126/world
“New York Approves Controversial Ventilator Solution : Medical groups warn against practice of splitting one ventilator between 2 patients” https://www.newser.com/story/288738/new-york-approves-controversial-ventilator-solution.html
“Trump ‘has a feeling’ NY doesn’t really need 30,000 ventilators and accuses governors of ‘complaining’” https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-trump-ventilators-20200327-4sk2pwrwujelhm64v4nzk3uh7i-story.html
“NY Death Toll Soars to 519, City Loses More in 2 Weeks to Virus Than to Homicides in All of 2019” (3/27/20) https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/too-many-people-are-dying-alone-nyc-loses-more-in-3-weeks-to-covid-19-than-to-homicides-in-all-of-2019/2346703/
March 22 (5 days ago): “Three weeks after its first coronavirus infection was discovered, the New York City region reached an alarming milestone on Sunday: It now accounts for roughly 5 percent of the world’s confirmed cases, making it an epicenter of the pandemic and increasing pressure on officials to take more drastic measures.”
Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, Chief of Engineers and commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, talks with Rachel Maddow about how the Army Corps of Engineers works with other federal agencies and state and local authorities to modify existing facilities to provide much needed expansion of hospital capacity in the face of mounting COVID-19 cases. Aired on 3/26/20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCsidYDqWo0
“I have no idea what’s awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.” Albert Camus, “The Plague” (1947)
‘We’re supposed to be a first-world country’: Doctor leaks video from packed ward of New York hospital amid coronavirus surge : Footage shows Queens hospital [NYC] crammed with ICU patients as staff run out of ventilators” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-york-coronavirus-hospital-video-leak-us-cases-queens-a9430076.html
NYT (3/25/20) ‘People Are Dying’: 72 Hours Inside a N.Y.C. Hospital Battling Coronavirus
Re: NYT ‘People are dying”, volume control and transcript access are on the right hand side of the screen.
Alternative source, YouTube (5:33)
I worked at a teaching hospital in the 1960’s. Better standards were enforced, then.
Plastic bags tweet: 8AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 28th
AP PHOTOS: Italy’s front-line medical heroes, in portraits https://apnews.com/206a7a7a0264a17fdceff40c433a7613 “…Sometimes hospital workers don’t drink water or any liquids during their 8-, 10-, or 12-hour shifts so they don’t have to go to the bathroom and disrobe. They follow strict protocols while taking off their hazmat suits, gloves and masks, knowing that one wrong move could mean they, too, will catch the virus.
Already, more than 7,100 health care workers around the country have. They are sent home to recover and report back to work when they test negative. Their absences are sorely felt, creating more work for those left standing. More than 50 doctors never recovered and are counted among the dead.”
“Hospitals consider universal do-not-resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients : Worry that ‘all hands’ responses may expose doctors and nurses to infection prompts debate about prioritizing the survival of the many over the one” (Washington Post 3/25/20) https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/25/coronavirus-patients-do-not-resucitate/
Lewis Kaplan, president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and a University of Pennsylvania surgeon, described how colleagues at different institutions are sharing draft policies to address their changed reality.
“We are now on crisis footing,” he said. “What you take as first-come, first-served, no-holds-barred, everything-that-is-available-should-be-applied medicine is not where we are. We are now facing some difficult choices in how we apply medical resources — including staff.”
The new protocols are part of a larger rationing of lifesaving procedures and equipment — including ventilators — that is quickly becoming a reality here as in other parts of the world battling the virus. The concerns are not just about health-care workers getting sick but also about them potentially carrying the virus to other patients in the hospital.