United States Facing Hospital Bed Shortage Due To Coronavirus

In a shocking revelation, a study reveals there aren't enough hospital beds in the U.S. to handle the country's expected number of coronavirus patients.

Authors of the USA Today study based their findings on the rate the virus has been spreading and its progression in other countries.

Taking into account the number of hospital beds in the U.S., there will be six "seriously ill" patients fighting for each bed, according to the study.

However, being that two-thirds of the country's hospital beds are usually filled, a more realistic number is 17 coronavirus patients per one bed, the study indicates.

The Global Center for Health Security's Dr. James Lawler says the officials need to start planning for the lop-sided ratio now.

"Unless we are able to implement dramatic isolation measures like some places in China, we’ll be presented with overwhelming numbers of coronavirus patients – two to 10 times as we see at peak influenza times," he says.