The United States could see coronavirus-related deaths soar “well in the hundreds of thousands” if there is no course correction, according to a warning from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
“We are not on the right track at the moment,” AAMC chief scientific officer Dr. Ross McKinney Jr. told Brianna Keilar of CNN.
McKinney also said the crisis is putting pressure on hospitals, especially those in virus zones like Arizona, Florida and Texas.
“The crisis is terrible for hospitals. We are listening to some of our hospitals in areas like South Florida that are, in fact, full, but their staff is getting sick. As your staff gets sick, there is no one there to complete. Therefore, people have to work extraordinarily long hours and as they get tired, they end up taking more risks, simply because they make mistakes. So we are really pushing the limits of what the healthcare system can offer … We are really reaching the limit and as the disease hits the staff it is becoming an even bigger crisis than it already was, ”he said.
The AAMC is calling for an increase in critical supplies, as well as to improve testing, reopen schools safely, expand health insurance and develop a vaccine distribution protocol.
The association urges the Trump administration to invoke the Defense Production Law to address supply shortages.
“Essentially, critical supplies are not found everywhere, and we as a country have not systematically attempted to improve our production of PPE or the supplies that laboratories need to meet the demands we have for testing. The demands we have on EPP, ”said McKinney.
McKinney added that the AAMC is asking for national standards for local home stay requests and reopening protocols.
Each city or state “doesn’t necessarily have to have the same degree of blocking, but they must use the same criteria to try to move from one phase to the next, so that we can learn what the best standards are to use, so we don’t get these continuous waves of infection, “he said.
With reports from CNN’s Jason Hanna, Madeline Holcombe, and Shelby Lin Erdman
Watch the full interview here:
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