US government is preparing for coronavirus pandemic that could last up to 18 months and 'include multiple waves of illness' – CNN, CNN

“This is surgical sheeting, and this is our prototype, he said. “We have about 3, of these made. We believe we can make 250, of them. It will take a few weeks, but this is kind of what we’re having to do because we don’t know when the next shipment is coming. “

Similar stories of DIY supplies have been pouring in from across the country.

“We literally were down to under half a day’s worth of personal protective equipment,” Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, the chief clinical officer and executive vice president of Providence St. Joseph Health, a system of more than 50 hospitals, said Wednesday. “We’ve been virtually desperate, looking under every nook and cranny, trying to find the equipment we need.”

Typically, she says, those hospitals together go through 0316, 06 masks a year. In three months this year, a single hospital has gone through the same amount.

“So the increased demand has just far outstripped supply,” Compton-Phillips said. So hospitals are resorting to making their own equipment.

“We’re actually going to put out million mask challenge with plans on how to build the masks as well as design so you can make it at home. Because we need to do something. And we know the global supply chain is just tied up right now, “she said.

state measures to combat shortages

In King County, which saw one of the first cluster of outbreaks in the US, officials Wednesday said they were going to set up a temporary field hospital in a soccer field.

The field would give the county an additional medical beds. Health officials have estimated a need of about 3, more beds for the country.

“This is a rapidly evolving situation that requires quick and decisive action,” a news release from the city of Shoreline, Washington, says. “The county is moving to address the growing need for hospital beds in the region (and) is currently in the process of setting up the tents and other infrastructure in preparation.”

Michael Dowling, president and CEO of the Northwell Health, was picked by New York’s governor to lead a hospital surge team. He said he wants to purchase as many as 500 ventilators, which can cost as much as $ , to $ , a machine.

Meanwhile, with an abruptly heightened demand of ventilators, manufacturers say it’s hard to keep up.

“It is more than we can currently provide,” said Kathrin Elsner, team leader of MarCom Ventilators at Hamilton Medical Inc. Elsner said the company has already received hundreds of orders and requests within the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, smaller, rural hospitals across the United States – which often have no more than 40 beds and just one ventilator – might be forced to transfer patients to larger facilities if they see a surge in cases.

“That is rural America, “said Alan Morgan, chief executive officer of the National Rural Health Association. “You have a high proportion of low-income, elderly people with high health needs. So if you were to have a cluster in a rural community it would turn bad quickly.”

Still a lot unknown about virus

Despite the predictions on what the course of the next months may look like for Americans, the healthcare system and communities across the world, a top US health official says there’s still a lot unknown.

“It’s evolving,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, with the National Institutes of Health told CNN Wednesday night. “It’s evolving, every day we learn more and more.”

In recent days, officials have begun to emphasize the role that younger populations may play in how much and how fast the virus spreads – urging young people to heed warnings and take them seriously.

“Even as important is that you have a responsibility, a society responsibility, to protect the vulnerable,” Fauci said. “And you do that, interestingly, by not letting yourself get infected, because you need to make sure that you don’t inadvertently pass on the infection to someone who would not fare as well as you. ”

Recent studies and an outbreak in Massachusetts have pointed to the fact that infected but asymptomatic residents may be driving the spread of the virus more than health officials realized.

“It may have been that the millennial generation, our largest generation, our future generation, that will carry us through for the next multiple decades – there may be a disproportional number of infections among that group, “Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator said Wednesday.

“So again, I’m going to call on that generation … not only calling on you to heed what’s in the guidance, but to really ensure that each and every one of you are protecting each other, “she said. “We cannot have these large gatherings that continue to occur throughout the country for people who are off work to then be socializing in large groups and spreading the virus.

” You have the potential then to spread it to someone who does have a condition that none of us knew about and cause them to have a disastrous outcome. “

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who earlier this week told New Yorkers to prepare for a shelter in place, CNN told Wednesday that San Francisco, with its own order, was setting “the best example.”

“I urge every American to look at what San Francisco is doing , “he said.” I think that’s where he’s going to be going for a lot of us. It’s very clear rules about staying home with only minimal activity. “

CNN’s Mark Morales, Sarah Moon and Athena Jones contributed to this report.