March 20 COVID Update: There’s crises of today (masks & beds), the crises of tomorrow (ventilators), clinical protocols, what Congress needs to do, what they are doing & helping us sustain #StayHome.
I worked on all of them. Could use your help on a few.1/
I worked on all of them. Could use your help on a few.1/
As I said last week doctors and nurses on the frontlines are the biggest need. Trump seemed to confirm getting factories moving to make masks.
Everyone who can should. We will likely need 1 billion masks.
In the meantime...2/
Everyone who can should. We will likely need 1 billion masks.
In the meantime...2/
We are making plans to launch a National N95s mask coordination site for people who want to make, donate or need masks. A great Silicon Valley team is working on it.
More soon on that. @rypan 3/
More soon on that. @rypan 3/
In one minute going on @RichFrenchLive. Will finish shortly. On RNN. Thinks it’s an East Coast thing (?) 4/
OK. That’s done. On masks. In the meantime. In the connected thread, put every donation or contribution to help a front line worker. 5/
Hospital beds. We will be where Italy was with hospital capacity (we are 10-14 days behind). We will get overrun.
I will be blunt. I’ve been speaking to governors and the Administration. The urgency is the states is much much much higher than the urgency at the fed level. 6/
I will be blunt. I’ve been speaking to governors and the Administration. The urgency is the states is much much much higher than the urgency at the fed level. 6/
I’m not trying to criticize for its own sake. They need to amp it up. I expect within days we will see a new round of regulations removed on hospitals allowing them to use/get more capacity.
We have to move away from being weeks behind to getting weeks ahead of this.7/
We have to move away from being weeks behind to getting weeks ahead of this.7/
Gov Cuomo said it today: hospital beds are no good without more ventilators. A worldwide shortage means we need to make more. And we need to #StayHome and not infect people to spare people’s lives. 7/
People have long lives ahead of themselves if we give them the chance.
A 25 year old colleague was hospitalized in NY today with COVID-19. If this hasn’t happened to you yet, it likely will. I am of course counting on him getting great care & I’m grateful to all who help him.9/
A 25 year old colleague was hospitalized in NY today with COVID-19. If this hasn’t happened to you yet, it likely will. I am of course counting on him getting great care & I’m grateful to all who help him.9/
Two other colleagues have just come down with fevers. If they come in to the same hospital a week from now, there could be 4x the people there. I worry even more about them. 10/
Clinical protocols: Spoke to a medical journal. We talked about organizing a library of clinical protocols/videos on how patients should best be managed at each stage, ways to stay safe, reducing infections, deal w overcrowding, where clinical trials are & more.11/
Today we at @USofCare released a 5 point proposal for Congress on what needs to be done. /12
unitedstatesofcare.org/press-releases…
unitedstatesofcare.org/press-releases…
Here are the five priority areas. /13
The first priority is about protecting & supporting the health care workforce. This is logistical support, family support & financial support. /14 
The next priority is to allow Americans to sustain a long-duration of economic challenges./15
The next priority is to take care of the health care costs arising from the Coronavirus. /16
The next priority is to focus on protecting the at-risk and most vulnerable populations in the country. 17/
The final priority we outline is to put the full resources of the nation to maximum use to respond to this pressing public health crisis. 18/
Sorry for big the thread down with so much detail. Its a big framework and the great @USofCare team worked day & night and as things change, it will need to adjust. And will likely come in many steps.
As of a few hours after it was sent to the Hill 318 have opened it. 19/
As of a few hours after it was sent to the Hill 318 have opened it. 19/
Sadly, this is the first volley out of Senate Republicans. They are going to need to engage more deeply in the reality of the challenge people are facing & come up with something better.20/
Finally, the thread is getting long but while everyone fights today’s battles and we push Congress to do the right thing (in the active use of the word PUSH), a number of people reached out to help make the new normal a good new normal: chefs, writers, musicians, good people.21/
All of it @ 🏡 . /end
