Coronavirus will radically alter the U.S.

Washington Post logoHere’s what may lie ahead based on math models, hospital projections and past pandemics

When Jason Christie, chief of pulmonary medicine at Penn Medicine, got projections on how many coronavirus patients might soon be flocking to his Philadelphia hospital, he said he felt physically ill.

“My front-line providers — we were speaking about it in the situation report that night, and their voices cracked,” Christie said Wednesday. They saw how quickly the surge would overwhelm the system, forcing doctors to make impossible choices — which patients would get ventilators and beds, and which would die.

“They were terrified.” Christie said. “And that was the best-case scenario.” Continue reading. free article