[Genuine Realist]

I'm curious as to why we haven't heard about governors calling up FEMA to deploy their mobile hospitals to provide additional capacity?

Also, both hospital and ICU capacity is not a fixed number. Many hospitals have rooms or entire wards that have been taken offline/out of service that in a pinch could be re-activated with additional equipment. Regular hospital rooms can also be converted to ICU rooms within 24 hours with additional equipment.

This isn't meant to imply that the situation isn't serious. Only to explain that capacity numbers are somewhat flexible both with federal support via FEMA and with additional equipment and onlining/converting idle capacity.

Dr. Cody answers this question in the presser I posted.  Short answer is there aren't enough trained critical care personnel.

FEMA not only provides infrastructure & facilities but also sources personnel. But perhaps there is a nationwide constraint. If so, that should be part of the answer. Just saying "our hospitals don't have enough staff" is an insufficient answer.

Whether it is insufficient or not, it's still the reality. And there is always going to be a limit to supply at some point.

I agree. But come out and say that. Don't give a half-donkey's butt answer that only considers local capacity.

Not that it ISN'T bad out there, but US media coverage has been relentlessly negative, far more so than other nations.

https://fortune.com/2020/11/29/covid-19-...ve-stories

[Genuine Realist]

I'm curious as to why we haven't heard about governors calling up FEMA to deploy their mobile hospitals to provide additional capacity?

Also, both hospital and ICU capacity is not a fixed number. Many hospitals have rooms or entire wards that have been taken offline/out of service that in a pinch could be re-activated with additional equipment. Regular hospital rooms can also be converted to ICU rooms within 24 hours with additional equipment.

This isn't meant to imply that the situation isn't serious. Only to explain that capacity numbers are somewhat flexible both with federal support via FEMA and with additional equipment and onlining/converting idle capacity.

Dr. Cody answers this question in the presser I posted.  Short answer is there aren't enough trained critical care personnel.

FEMA not only provides infrastructure & facilities but also sources personnel. But perhaps there is a nationwide constraint. If so, that should be part of the answer. Just saying "our hospitals don't have enough staff" is an insufficient answer.

Whether it is insufficient or not, it's still the reality. And there is always going to be a limit to supply at some point.

I agree. But come out and say that. Don't give a half-donkey's butt answer that only considers local capacity.

Not that it ISN'T bad out there, but US media coverage has been relentlessly negative, far more so than other nations.

https://fortune.com/2020/11/29/covid-19-...ve-stories