ER Wait times

[widestaringeyes]

In the event there ever is a pandemic that spreads rapidly or some CBR attack, our E.R.s could NEVER handle it. There are 9 major hospitals with a 25 mile area where I live. I have access to a website that displays the current workload for each of them. On any given day, usually 7 or 8 of them are in "Red" status. Red means at 100% capacity. Any ambulances that transport patients to a facility in Red status have to wait like everybody else (severity protocol). Basically, they are PACKED, on say, a Tuseday afternoon, for no apparent reason. And this is NORMAL. Now, granted, the vast majority in the E.R. are not life threatening emergencies and this is why they are so backed up. But my point is, even if Hospitals put 100% of their staff on duty, they could never come close to handling a major cirsis. Never. Not becuase of lack of talent, it is the volume they could never overcome. And if our hospitals are like this on a daily basis, Ican pretty much assume the rest are about the same.

[sarahS4621]

It's actually sad to say regardless of the outbreak we experience our ERs can't handle the pressure. Besides the fact that we are not adequately trained to handle such emergencies; there aren't enough doctors anymore to handle it. We are seeing a huge decline in the Medical school enrollment numbers and this is where we will suffer in the pandemic that breaks out.