Thread by @SportGenerosity

Essay from Josh Lerner, MD after @CDCgov loosens guidelines for everyone on the front lines

“In one of the most vivid scenes in @HBO miniseries "Chernobyl" soldiers dressed in leather smocks ran out into radioactive areas to literally shovel radioactive material out of harms way

Horrifically under-protected, they suited up anyway. In another scene, soldiers fashioned genital protection from scrap metal out of desperation while being sent to other hazardous areas.

Please don't tell me that in the richest country in the world in the 21st century, I’m

supposed to work in a fictionalized Soviet-era disaster zone & fashion my own face mask out of cloth bc other Americans hoard supplies for personal use & so-called leaders sit around in meetings hearing themselves talk. I ran to a bedside the other day to intubate a crashing,

likely COVID, patient. 2 respiratory therapists& 2 nurses were already bedside. That's 5 N95s masks, 5 gowns, 5 face shields & 10 gloves for ONE patient at ONE time. I saw 15-20 patients that shift, if we’re going to start rationing supplies, what % should I wear precautions for?

Make no mistake, the @CDCgov is loosening these guidelines bc our country is not prepared. Loosening guidelines increases healthcare workers' risk but the decision is done to allow us to keep working, not to keep us safe. It is done for the public benefit - so I can continue to

work no matter the personal cost to me or my family (& my healthcare family). Sending healthcare workers to the front line asking them to cover their face with a bandana is akin to sending a soldier to the front line in a t-shirt & flip flops.

I don't want talk. I don't want

assurances. I WANT ACTION. I want boxes of N95s piling up, donated from the ppl who hoarded them. I want non-clinical administrators in the hospital lining up in the ER asking to stock shelves to ensure that when I need to rush into a room, the drawer of #PPE equipment I open

isn't empty. I want them showing up in the ER asking "how can I help" instead of offering shallow "plans" conceived by someone who has spent far too long in an ivory tower& not in the trenches. Maybe they should actually step foot in the trenches

I want billion-dollar companies

like @3M halting all production of any product that isn't PPE to focus on PPE manufacturing. I want a company like @amazon, with its logistics mastery (it can drop a package to your door less than 24 hrs after ordering), halting its 2-day delivery of 12 reams of toilet paper to

whoever is willing to pay the most in order to help get the available PPE supply distributed fast & efficiently in a manner that gets the necessary materials to my brothers & sisters in arms who NEED them.

I want @ProcterGamble, and makers of other soaps/detergents, stepping up

too. We need detergent to clean scrubs, hospital linens & gowns. We need disinfecting wipes to clean desk & computer surfaces. What about plastics manufacturers? Plastic gowns aren't some high-tech device, they are long shirts/smocks...made out of plastic. Get on it. Face shields

are just clear plastic. Nitrile gloves? Yeah, they are pretty much just gloves...made from something that isn't apparently Latex. Let's go. Money talks in this country. Executive millionaires, why don't you spend a few $ to buy back some of these masks from the hoarders, and drop

them off at the nearest hospital.

I love biotechnology & research but we need to divert viral culture media for COVID testing & research. We need biotechnology manufacturing ready/able to ramp up if & when treatments or vaccines are developed. Our Botox supply isn't critical,

but our antibiotic supply is. We need to be able to make more plastic ET tubes, not more silicon breast implants.

Let's see all that. Then we can all talk about how we played our part in this fight. @netflix & chill is not enough while my family/friends/colleagues are out there

fighting. We won 2 world wars bc the entire country mobilized. We out-produced & out-manufactured while our soldiers out-fought the enemy. We need to do that again bc make no mistake, we are at war, healthcare workers are your soldiers, & the war has just begun.” -Josh Lerner, MD