Adm. Brett P. Giroir, MD, Assistant Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, said today, when asked about what the federal government will do to help hospitals—mostly in the Midwest and Western states, whose capacity is now at the breaking point with COVID-19, said: “We’re sending physical resources, not only manpower resources.” He stressed that, “We have the resources…. There is no idea of the thought of rationing care.” This reference is to Utah, in particular, which has standby criteria for how to cut off intensive care when there is a trade-off because of scarce ICU capacity. Giroir said, “There is no need to ration care. Put an end to those kinds” of considerations. He reviewed the national stockpiles of 60-90 days of PPE, and stockpiles of 150,000 ventilators. “We don’t want to get into a situation of taxing hospitals.”
Giroir, a pediatrician, whose specialty at HHS is supervising COVID-19 testing, was the kick-off speaker this morning at a Washington Post Live event, co-sponsored with the Rockefeller Foundation, which is partnering with HHS on pilot programs for school testing, along with Johns Hopkins University and Duke University. He gave a briefing on that.
The hospital strain in many states is extreme. This is raising the question of federal aid—from the Defense Department, HHS, as well as FEMA and the CDC, as was done earlier this year for Seattle, New York City, San Francisco, and other early outbreak hot spots. Now large numbers of inland cities and counties, from the Canadian to the Mexican border are in need.
Giroir addressed this pattern by calling today’s epidemiological situation “a mixed picture.” He said that at present, there are 41,000 people hospitalized, which is lower than the peak of 76,000 in July, but where COVID-19 is hitting is different, and hospitals “in several areas have become full.”
