Getting hospitals ready for the next pandemic The more hospitals cooperate, the better they’ll fare in an emergency Share this story As surges of COVID-19 cases spread throughout the United States over the past year, hospitals overwhelmed with patients quickly ran out of everything: masks, gloves, beds, space, doctors, nurses. Hospital workers in New York City, one of the first epicenters of the US pandemic, wore garbage bags as protective equipment. Patients in overcrowded California emergency rooms spent hours lying in hallways. Nurses in Missouri worked twice the normal number of shifts ...