As COVID 19 cases have increased throughout the nation, demand for hospital beds has climbed to an alarming tally.
According to Kaiser Health News, more than half the counties in America don’t have intensive care beds. The United States COVID 19 case total has topped 44,000. If that number continues growing, as many as 7 million people ages 65 and older could be left without care. Miami New Times recently cited a report stating that — if 20 percent of Miami residents were infected, a fifth of them would need to be hospitalized. If the cases were to occur within six months, Miami hospitals would need three times as many beds as they currently have.
New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, has been given the order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to increase hospital-bed capacity by 50 percent effective March 23. The decision was made after testing in the state grew to 16,000 a day.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom followed suit on Monday announcing his state would need 17,000 hospital beds. Newsom added that the was also short $1 billion in supplies.
Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker said Tuesday that if a stay-at home order hadn’t been issued, Chicago would have run out of beds a week ago. Hospitals throughout the state would have needed 800 more ICU beds.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Monday, urging him to issue a major disaster declaration in order to gain access to federal funding. Abbot insisted that Texas will continue to be aggressive in obtaining medical supplies.
The U.S. Navy reported that the President would be dispatching the USNS Mercy to New York Harbor in less than 14 days to provide additional hospital bed and supply relief.
ABC News provided aerial footage on Sunday morning of the ship embarking for Los Angeles with 800 sailors on deck.
