The worldwide spread of COVID-19 is being called the “pandemic of the century” by some. Others are watching the debacle unfold can only wonder if the response to the COVID-19 pandemic will someday be called “the fiasco of the century.” The 24/7 news channels have created worldwide mass hysteria by reporting events from a sensationalist point of view without giving appropriate context. Civilians are terrified. The economy has been damaged for a generation. These commentaries share observations, analysis, experiences, and perspectives from a narrator who is both an observer and a participant on the front lines of healthcare. Episode 1: Ill Prepared…

In Wuhan China and later Italy, the healthcare system was rapidly overrun with critically ill patients and insufficient resources to save them all. When the population’s health needs vastly exceeded the system’s capacity, “utilitarian ethics” quickly replaced normal medical ethics; disaster standards of care replaced normal standards of care. Ventilators and drugs in short supply were allocated only to those patients most likely to survive; family members were not allowed to visit dying relatives in the hospital, and CPR was suspended for COVID-19 patients. Entire countries have been shut down with catastrophic economic consequences to tens of millions of people in an attempt to contain the virus. In each case, the health of the community trumped the needs of the individual. Bioethicists Arthur Caplan and Gregory Pence discuss the complex ethical issues we face in a COVID-19 world.

Dr. Paul Offit is a virologist and infectious disease specialist from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. We discuss the COVID surge in NY, immunity testing, the coming surge in California, the safest/best timing to lift the national quarantine, and much more.