How America's Covid response left 3,000 health workers dead Dire PPE shortages. Limited Covid tests
This is a devastating investigation--lost in the Holiday celebrations.
Did they have to die? How America's Covid response left 3,000 health workers dead
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/23/us-healthcare-workers-died-covid-coronavirus
Dire PPE shortages. Limited Covid tests. Political negligence. A Guardian/KHN investigation reveals what went wrong
Lost on the frontline interactive: the healthcare workers who have died in the pandemic
Christina Jewett and Robert Lewis
Wed 23 Dec 2020 09.07 EST
Last modified on Thu 24 Dec 2020 00.56 EST
Workers at Garfield medical center in suburban Los Angeles were on edge as the pandemic ramped up in March and April. Staffers in a 30-patient unit were rationing a single tub of sanitizing wipes all day. A May memo from the chief executive said N95 masks could be cleaned up to 20 times before replacement.
Patients showed up Covid-negative but some still developed symptoms a few days later. Contact tracing took the form of texts and whispers about exposures.
By summer, frustration gave way to fear. At least 60 staff members at the 210-bed community hospital caught Covid-19, according to records obtained by KHN and interviews with eight staff members and others familiar with hospital operations.
The first to die was Dawei Liang, 60, a quiet radiology technician who never said “no” when a colleague needed help. A cardiology technician became infected and changed his final wishes – agreeing to intubation – hoping for more years to dote on his grandchildren.
Few felt safe.
Ten months into the pandemic, it has become far clearer why tens of thousands of healthcare workers have been infected by the virus and why so many have died: dire PPE shortages. Limited Covid tests. Sparse tracking of viral spread. Layers of flawed policies handed down by healthcare executives and politicians, and lax enforcement by government regulators.
All of those breakdowns, across cities and states, have contributed to the deaths of more than 2,900 healthcare workers, a nine-month investigation by over 70 reporters at KHN and the Guardian has found. This number is far higher than that reported by the US government, which does not have a comprehensive national count........
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