Scripps Health President/CEO Chris D. Van Gorder, FACHE, and Sharp Healthcare COVID-19 strategic response executive consultant Daniel L. Gross sent a joint statement including the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors asking for “urgent action” on behalf of health care providers along the United States/Mexico border.
“There is a misperception that San Diego and Southern California are flattening the curve and therefore supplies and attention can go elsewhere,” they wrote. “This is not the case. Hospital COVID-19 cases in the southern part of our region continue to rise. Any impression that we are flattening our curve ignores the threat south of the border… Many of our supplies to meet the projections are already at critical levels and some supply shipments have been intercepted by FEMA for redistribution… This challenge is acute and will not be without long-lasting impacts in our region and across our nation if we do not act now. Public health crises do not respect borders.”
Scripps Health and Sharp Healthcare is serving more than 60% of the region’s COVID-19 patients with Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center and Scripps mercy Hospital Chula Vista seeing daily increased at a rate higher than other facilities in San Diego County, caring for more COVID-19 patients than its other acute-care hospitals combined.
The statement asks that the following actions be taken as soon as possible.
•Immediately begin medical checks to protect public health and expedite the free flow of critical goods and essential personnel.
•Request high priority status to receive more personal protective equipment (PPE) and pharmaceutical supplies.
•Request that the CDC and Customs and Border Patrol conduct medical checks at the border, temperature checks at the very least.
•Mandate quarantine for suspected positive individuals.
• Address lack of infrastructure, medication and work force to control the virus.
