Coronavirus School Closures Impact Hospital Staff Availability
Coronavirus School Closures Impact Hospital Staff Availability

Reuters reports that U.S. hospitals are preparing for a huge surge in coronavirus patients, as the virus takes hold on the U.S..

But as of Friday, at least 21,900 schools from kindergarten through high school announced closures, impacting at least 15 million students and their families.

Medical experts say that the closures could negatively impact the availability of hospital staff.

Dr. Jason Persoff, assistant director of emergency preparedness at UCHealth in Colorado explains, "We are learning a lot from what happened in Washington state and in Italy ... there are a lot of issues with childcare." UCHealth estimates that as many as 20 percent of its regular staff will not being able to work at some point during the outbreak, due to childcare.

Hospitals are looking at temps agencies and other ways to maintain their workforce levels.

He said that for single parent households, it is a crisis situation when all hands will need to be on deck.

He added, “It used to be you could have grandma and grandpa step in and watch the kids.

But it turns out grandma and grandpa are the most vulnerable population for this virus."