Six states — Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas — have taken steps to limit inappropriate prescriptions for the medicine and preserve supplies for patients who take it for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Californians are under orders to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus — and the result is that some of Southern California’s best-known spots are shuttered or deserted, from Santa Monica Pier to Olvera Street.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave huge cities roughly the same number of test kits as some rural spots, which crippled efforts by health officials to contain the virus.
As illness from the new coronavirus stresses the health care system, nurses said they are being forced to make do with less and learning to be good stewards of available equipment and protective gear.
Almost half of the nation’s rural hospitals operate in the red on a good day. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, rural hospital CEOs warn that soon some may be unable to pay their workers. And their doors may close when the community most needs them.
Even as many states put a moratorium on elective surgeries in a desperate effort to preserve dwindling stocks of protective gear, hospitals in other pockets of the country continue to perform a range of elective procedures. Some staff members and ethicists are voicing concerns.
The states are allowing new enrollments this month to help ease consumers’ concerns about the cost of health care so that the sick will not be deterred from seeking medical attention and inadvertently spread the virus.