US Hospitals are preparing for millions of Americans to be hospitalized amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to leaked documents.
The American Hospital Association (AHA), which represents thousands of health systems and hospitals, held a webinar with its member health systems and hospitals.
The ‘What healthcare leaders need to know: Preparing for the COVID-19’ presentation happened on February 26 with representatives from the National Ebola Training and Education Center, according to the Business Insider.
A professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. James Lawler, presented the shocking ‘best guess’ estimates of how much coronavirus might spread in the United States.
According to the slides obtained by Business Insider, hospitals need to increase the amount of preparations to reduce the number of potential deaths.
The slide doesn’t show a time frame but it represents “his interpretation of the data available. It’s possible that forecast will change as more information becomes available,” said a spokesperson for Nebraska Medicine to Business Insider.
AHA also said the webinar reflects the views of professionals who spoke on it.
A spokesperson for the AHA said to Business Insider in a statement: “The AHA regularly hosts webinars and conference calls that include a variety of voices and opinions that seek to provide relevant information to professionals at hospitals and health systems that are on the front lines of preparing for and protecting their patients and communities.
“The slides you shared reflect the various perspectives of field experts and should not be attributed to the AHA.”
Marc Lipsitch, a professor at Harvard University, also predicted anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of people globally will be infected with the killer virus within the next year.
One internet user commented: “People calm down please!! This virus has probably been here for months and for all you know, you’ve already had it but thought it was the flu. Others might have been diagnosed as pneumonia. Wuhan put the name coronavirus in our lexicon so now everyone is panicking. I was more worried about H1N1 to tell you the truth. Just practice good hygiene , which you should be doing anyway, and stay calm.”
Another wrote: “The virus is going to spread in the US more than anywhere else, all because of the mentality of being free to do whatever; most do not wash their hands after using restroom, put feet on chairs, wear shoes in homes/on befs etc.; do not proper sanitize etc…Sad but true!”
A third added: “If we cannot handle a few cruise liners then what’s the point to talking bigger and bigger numbers?”
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Replaced!