Former Republican Senate Majority leader Dr. Bill Frist M.D. wrote on March 20:
“We need to increase rapidly our own mass production of PPE in the United States immediately. According to these [hospital] leaders, hospitals across this country are expecting to run out of PPE in anywhere from two weeks to just under three days. If this does happen, personnel including doctors and nurses will no longer be able to report for work as they will have no means to protect themselves against this pandemic.
This is a clear-cut plea from the frontlines for help and for federal intervention that begins at the very top with the President. We cannot even wait one day, as now is the time to act to prevent any hospital from losing their ability to protect employees and patients. When I asked the CEO of one of the largest health systems in the nation, spanning thirty states across our country, if the situation was as severe as portrayed, his answer was unequivocal: ‘Yes.’
Our physicians, nurses, techs, and hospitals are answering the call to duty that this national emergency and global crisis is demanding, but they need help on both of the following fronts: the mass production of masks and other protective equipment (as well as testing materials) and the prioritization of testing for health care personnel.”
The President, “must make the production of needed medical supplies an immediate priority through executive action while Congress focuses on providing concrete support in the uncertain months ahead.”
▶ Created on March 21, 2020 by the Democratic Coalition