This is the Mother Jones Podcast. I'm Jimmy

King in Crown Heights.

I'm recording this again from my bedroom closet as I'm practicing social

distancing like we all should be as much as we can right now.

The coronavirus pandemic still sounds like something out of a

dystopian thriller, but it's very real and very much a part of our everyday lives.

It's killed thousands of people and upended life for millions

of others across the globe. And it's putting a huge strain on hospitals. They need beds, they

need staff, They need equipment. This week we talk to

doctors on the front lines. What are they seeing? What supplies do they need? And why aren't they getting them?

As we record, hospitals across the country are bracing themselves for what looks to be a massive surge of patients, flooding emergency rooms in the coming weeks and months.

As cases rise, hospitals across the country expect to experience difficult shortages.

Shortages which may hit especially experience difficult shortages, shortages,

shortages which may hit especially hard in rural communities,

who already struggle with limited health care choices,

access, and funding.

We spoke with Dr Michael Brumich, the medical director at Cabin Creek Health Systems

in Kanaw County, West Virginia.

To hear directly from the front lines as he gears up for the fight of a lifetime.

Dr. Burmage, welcome to the show.

Well, thank you very much. Thanks for having me on.

Let's get right into it. What do you need that you don't have and why don't you have it? Well, there's a lot of things we need at the moment. One are adequate numbers of n95 respirators. That is actually a nationwide shortage. And there's a lot of reasons for why we don't have enough of that, namely that the whole world is literally asking for N95 respirators all at the same time.

...