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The ability of the American health care system to absorb a shock — what experts call surge capacity — is much weaker than many believe. As a medical doctor who analyzes health issues for The Upshot, I strive to place your fears in context and usually tell you that you shouldn’t be nearly as afraid as you are. But when it comes to the nation’s response to the new coronavirus, I cannot be so reassuring. A crucial thing to understand about the coronavirus threat — and it’s playing out grimly in Italy — is the difference between the total number of people who might get sick and the number who might get sick at the same time. Our country has only 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. (Carroll, 3/12)

As new coronavirus infections accumulate across America, hospitals want to make sure they have everything they need to keep staff safe. In China, where the virus was first discovered, protecting health care workers was a serious challenge. More than 3,300 nurses, doctors and other hospital staff members across the country were infected, many because of insufficient protective equipment. In the United States, some hospitals are already struggling with limited supplies, as health officials figure out the best way to protect workers. (Popovich and Parshina-Kottas, 3/11)

Masks, gloves and other equipment are crucial as health care workers face the COVID-19 outbreak. There is a strategic national stockpile that the U.S. government controls — but no one actually knows, beyond that stockpile, what's already out there in the private sector. Some hospitals have extras, and some not enough. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on a system that would track the inventory across the U.S. The big hurdle isn't the technology. The issue is getting hospitals comfortable sharing information about their preparedness — information that, until now, they have considered confidential. (Farmer, 3/12)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order to increase the availability of respirators in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall take all appropriate and necessary steps with respect to general use respirators to facilitate their emergency use by healthcare personnel in healthcare facilities and elsewhere," the order said. (Brady, 3/11)

Canceling or postponing non-urgent appointments, seeing patients through remote tools like telehealth and, in some cases, locking up face masks so they don't go missing: These are just some of the ways that local hospitals are preparing for an influx of coronavirus cases in the Bay Area. This comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that more cases of COVID-19 are likely to be identified and that widespread transmission could occur, which "would translate into large numbers of people needing medical care at the same time." (Wiley and Klivans, 3/11)

US Med-Equip’s storage facility in Jersey Village resembles a Costco warehouse. But rather than pallets of M&M jars and bulk flour bags, the company stocks infusion pumps wrapped in plastic bags and incubators for premature babies. A veritable candy store for hospitals looking for pricey equipment, when a customer calls US Med-Equip looking for a monitor for vital signs, for example, its team checks if it has the piece, puts it on a company vehicle and delivers it to the hospital — often within three hours of the request. (Wu, 3/12)

The country's community health centers are calling on lawmakers to renew federal funding set to expire in May in order to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus. More than 1,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported as of deadline in the U.S., according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-nine people have died. (Johnson, 3/11)

COVID-19 may already be putting a dent in procedure volumes. Almost a quarter of doctors surveyed by a major investment bank said they're seeing an uptick in procedure cancellations or deferrals. It's a small survey of 62 orthopedic surgeons, interventional cardiologists and anesthesiologists, but Jefferies analysts say the 23% who noted a change is enough to show that the novel coronavirus is prompting patients to reconsider going under the knife. (Bannow, 3/11)

Just as the levees of New Orleans stood little chance against the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, our overly complex, inflexible, noninteroperable, and often off-purpose electronic health record systems aren’t ready for an average Sunday afternoon, let alone Covid-19. As the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 continues its march around the world and through the United States, it is spawning another kind of infection: Covid-19 cyber threats aimed at individuals and health systems. (Perakslis and Huang, 3/12)

U.S. blood banks are concerned about potential shortages as Americans concerned about catching the new coronavirus avoid donation sites and companies with employees working from home cancel blood drives. There have already been shortages over the past week in Washington that required other blood banks to move blood in from outside the region, according to Brian Gannon, who runs the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center and chairs a disaster task force for AABB, formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks. Supplies in New York were also low because of blood drive cancellations, he said. (3/11)