For many hospitals, preparing for a surge of COVID-19 patients costs a whole lot of money. Some hospitals built the capacity. But the surge never came. And non-COVID patients stayed away. Stacey Vanek Smith is with our daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money. And she’s been tracking one hospital trying to convince people it is safe to come back. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST) STACEY VANEK SMITH, BYLINE: About a month ago, we spoke with Dr. Patrick Cawley. He heads up the Medical University of South Carolina Health. It has over 17,000 doctors, nurses and other health care workers, and hospitals throughout the state. When we talked with him last month, he had just laid off 900 people. PATRICK CAWLEY: And I would say it was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my entire career.
U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Kevin H. Tierney. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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