‘ A Lot Of Virus In The Community ’ : How Hospital System Is Coping With COVID-19

BOSTON (CBS) – Dr. Paul Biddinger is the Director of Emergency Preparedness at Partners HealthCare. He sat down with WBZ-TV’s Louisa Moller to discuss how the hospital system is coping with COVID-19. Louisa Moller: How are you doing? Dr. Biddinger: “We are doing OK. But I think we still are all aware that we are on the ascending part of the curve and even tougher times are unfortunately probably ahead.” “There have really been extraordinary, extraordinary examples of staff showing up, teaching one another as staff have redeployed to different areas of the hospital.” “People are concerned, they’re afraid of what’s happening in the community and certainly, they’re tired.” “We didn’t expect this much transmission in the community this fast which I think really has to do with the characteristics of the virus and how much asymptomatic transmission there is meaning there’s just a lot of virus in the community.” Dr. Paul Biddinger is the Director of Emergency Preparedness at Partners HealthCare (WBZ-TV) Moller: Do you feel like your hospitals are in control of this? Dr. Biddinger: “Everything seems to be coming at us at least as fast or faster than we had expected.” Moller: Do you have enough personal protective equipment for your staff such as N95 masks? Dr. Biddinger: “We are currently cautiously optimistic that we have what we will need to get through given our utilization, given what we are projecting.” Moller: Do you have enough ventila...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Boston News Health Syndicated Local Coronavirus partners healthcare Source Type: news