Hey Barn,perhaps @curious2garden could talk about this. I found these 2 articles, one from the Ohio Dept of Health and the other from a Texas hospital CEO
"said he had read that between shift breaks and staffing changes, treating a single COVID-19 patient might require as many as 40 masks per day"
"DOH reports taking care of a patient who is in intensive care for a 24-hour shift requires:
I had no idea health care would go thru that much PPE. I can see why there are shortages.
- 36 pairs of gloves
- 14 gowns
- 3 pairs of goggles
- 13 N-95 face masks"
Essentially it's not just nurses and doctors but any healthcare professional that enters an isolation room has to suit up. So you have MDs (the hospitalist, the pulmonologist and any other specialist for a daily visit), three shifts of RNs plus their break relief, all paraprofessionals such as respiratory therapy on three shifts to take care of the ventilator, Xray techs for at least daily chest Xrays, phlebotomists for daily or more blood draws, housekeeping to do the necessary clean up.
Then if you require biomedical for a problem with wall suction or oxygen lines etc..... So I'd say their numbers were conservative.