Coronavirus crisis: Health care workers sound alarm from 'the front lines'

The coronavirus pandemic has taken the lives of over 10,000 individuals across the world, and sickened over 200,000. In the U.S., the number of confirmed cases continues to rise as more testing kits become available.

As the virus spreads, some hospitals could soon be overwhelmed by the number of coronavirus patients.

“One, we don’t have the real estate to house these patients,” Marcia Santini, a nurse at UCLA’s hospital in Westwood, told Yahoo Finance. “Two, staffing. If we start getting sick, if we’re not protected, if hospitals don’t provide the proper personal protective gear, we are going to get sick. And hospitals have been known to hoard these supplies because they’re afraid of running out.”

‘We’re on the front lines’

NBC News surveyed with more than 250 health care professionals across the country and found that there is a dire need for more personal protective equipment (PPE) in American hospitals.

“I don’t feel like my hospital is failing us,” a nurse in Michigan said. “It’s the whole system that’s failing us.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emergency-room-director-explains-two-biggest-challenges-coronavirus-183809500.html