If the scenario plays out like that the doctors will be amongst the first ones to go down. It might be just matter of time before the government starts buying up any possibly effective drugs for themselves and the military. There is already rumors the the gov is buying up emergency food supplies and I checked a bunch of sellers and most of them seem to be either very low or out of stock and/or very long wait times - like 30 days or so. Good luck!
Last week was our last week of ‘bliss’, with that being that the direct effects of Chinese cutoff hadn’t reached our West Coast. Now we’re 2 weeks out from the Lunar New Year and the ships that should have started their journeys from the huge terminals in China at the end of the New Year would just about be showing up at our shores now. And so the spot shortages of all types of items will start to appear by Monday, and we’ll see something we’re not used to in our stores, which will be empty spaces. And those spaces will gradually grow, more and more.
At some point, despite the soothing words of government and some people here, most Americans will figure out that if they want a smart phone, toilet paper, or just about anything else, they better buy it NOW, as the next opportunity will be months, maybe years away. And that then starts the large-scale panic buying.
That’s when the Shiite hits the fan.
Correct.
Just watching a tough flu season first hand in an ER and 300 bed hospital was eye opening. We never had long wait times to get a room. They were waiting in the ER for 36 hours. Which means there were not beds for other folks. We were doubling up, parking folks, and doing triage as people walked.
In declared emergency we had rooms in a closed part of the hospital, but there are no beds. ( Hospitals do not have a stock of beds more than three days of known intake-surgeries, etc.). Most people have no idea how few “extra” stuff the hospital has on hand.
And inventory—30 days normal seasonal stock. As we emerge from the flu season in the next six weeks the inventory is drawn down. Unless there is an emergency the staff cannot just order more. But let’s say the regional manager says you can...where are you going to get it from? It’s mostly made in China. Those ships are not sailing. And the folks who make this stuff in country—the materials: paper, gauze, elastic...all from China.
3M just laid off 1200. You think they are calling them back? Not yet.
Hospitals are just factories for people. Most people have been dealing with Six Sigma for a decade or more. Believe it or not, the quality management fad is just getting in place in Hospitals. Most of them are a moral mess, a process mess, and a flow mess.
Doctors learning holistic medicine? The doctors are going to take a look at this, roll their sleeves up and do what they can. Most nurses too. But anyone who thinks transport and cleaning staff is going to stick around are delusional. If your workplace was 20% fatal, would your janitors and switchboard Operators show up?