Massachusetts Coronavirus: Hospitals Face Staffing Issues

SALEM, MA — The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association is asking state officials to suspend daycare rules to allow hospitals to set up temporary childcare facilities for their workers.

The state's decision to close all schools for three weeks helps with social distancing, but it makes it difficult for healthcare workers with children to get to work.

"'Social distancing' may be the best way to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus. But as school districts yesterday were ordered closed for three weeks, the parents of children – many of them employed by the commonwealth’s important healthcare sector – may need to stay at home to care for their youngsters," the association said. "Can daycare rules be waived to allow medical facilities to set up child care centers? What are the other options? MHA is investigating the issue with the state and its membership."

Massachusetts hospitals have so far only provided general updates on their preparedness. But Dr. Jarone Lee, a critical care doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Commonwealth's Codcast podcast he was worried about predictions of worldwide infection rates as high as 60 percent.

"At this point, we’re worried about the worst-case scenario, hoping for the best.," Lee said. "On the ICU side, if it gets to the point of Italy or some other places we’ve heard about in the world, we do not have the capacity to take care of that many patients. I believe that’s true probably for the US health system in general. We don’t have enough ventilators or ICU beds."

At the same time, Gov. Charlie Baker's Sunday press conference on the coronavirus included several emergency orders the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association had been calling for to help the state's healthcare facilities combat the pandemic.

A key item in Baker's sweeping list of preparations and precautions was his order for health insurers to cover all telehealth services, not just those related to coronavirus. The hospital association had been pushing for the emergency rules to limit patient visits to healthcare facilities.

Most Massachusetts hospitals began postponing elective procedures last week, even before Baker ordered the ban on elective surgeries Sunday. "The state directive creates a uniform policy that will free up beds and resources to counter any COVID-19-generated surge," the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association said.

Visitors can expect more screening when they arrive at the hospital and, in some cases, limits on the number of people who can visit a patient. Partners Healthcare, for example, has implemented new rules limiting visits inpatient and outpatient facilities. Baker's order also gives hospital the right to deny visitation to anyone.

Harvard Medical School and Partners Healthcare, which includes Mass General Hospital, Brigham & Women's and McLean Hospital, began shutting down most research labs on Sunday to help slow the spread of coronavirus. Partners, the state's largest healthcare provider, told workers in the labs the they should expect the closures to last for up to eight weeks.

"We realize that our investigators are working hard to improve our understanding of disease and develop new treatments for our patients," a memo to Partners employees in those labs said. "This is essential work that we don’t want to derail, but the urgency of the current pandemic will require that some of this work be temporarily put on hold."

On Thursday, Baker signed a $15 million bill passed by the state legislature to fund "monitoring, treatment, containment, public awareness, and prevention efforts." The funding will go to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, regional and local boards of health, and other public groups.

Why Social Distancing Is Crucial

Also on Monday, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said social distancing was crucial "to flatten the curve of how quickly it spreads so that our healthcare system does not get overwhelmed."

"Decisions like whether business leaders let their employees telecommute, or whether we keep ourselves and our families healthy at home (practicing good hygiene, social distancing, sleeping well, and self-quarantining if we are sick) will determine how many people become severely ill," Moulton said. "Rather than panic and over-react, we should take the time now to prepare, acting confidently and decisively, much like we would in advance of a large blizzard or hurricane."