[magnus]

On top of all that, it seems we shouldn't be trusting some mask suppliers in Texas:
https://www.propublica.org/article/he-re...-hospitals

I don't think ICU bed space is a limiting factor as much as ICU staffing capacity.  How many beds can you add before you start running short on doctors, nurses, RTs, and techs?  How many of those staff can you afford to be exposed to covid daily and have quarantined for 14 days if they start feeling ill?  

How much staff do you need to handle a 150% capacity ICU when five patients start coding at the same time?

I think when NYC hit these shortages they pulled in from other disciplines.   Disciplines with the most overlap in experience first.  Doctors that had little ICU experience but were available would get assigned the more basic tasks while the specialists supervised/focused on the more ICU specific tasks.

[magnus]

On top of all that, it seems we shouldn't be trusting some mask suppliers in Texas:
https://www.propublica.org/article/he-re...-hospitals

I don't think ICU bed space is a limiting factor as much as ICU staffing capacity.  How many beds can you add before you start running short on doctors, nurses, RTs, and techs?  How many of those staff can you afford to be exposed to covid daily and have quarantined for 14 days if they start feeling ill?  

How much staff do you need to handle a 150% capacity ICU when five patients start coding at the same time?

I think when NYC hit these shortages they pulled in from other disciplines.   Disciplines with the most overlap in experience first.  Doctors that had little ICU experience but were available would get assigned the more basic tasks while the specialists supervised/focused on the more ICU specific tasks.