(Natural News) The new coronavirus pandemic could push healthcare facilities to their limits as no state will have enough room to handle a sudden surge of coronavirus patients, USA Today reported. Their analysis, based on data from the American Hospital Association, U.S. Census, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO), revealed that there would only be one existing hospital bed for every six coronavirus patients.

“Unless we are able to implement dramatic isolation measures like some places in China, we’ll be presented with overwhelming numbers of coronavirus patients – two to 10 times as we see at peak influenza times,” said James Lawler, a researcher from the University of Nebraska and the Global Center for Health Security.

Not enough beds

Business Insider reported that the U.S. has around 95,000 intensive care unit beds available for use. However, Lawler claims that there is no healthcare facility in the U.S. that can absorb an overwhelming number of patients.

COVID-19 is a flu-like disease caused by a member of the coronavirus family that is closely related to the SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past. The disease is caused by a virus designated as SARS-CoV-2 by the Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. COVID, on the other hand, is short for “coronavirus disease.”

As of writing, the CDC reports that a total of 1,629 Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with 41 coronavirus-related deaths. Analysis by USA Today estimated that 23.9 million Americans could contract the virus. The estimation is based on an infection rate of 7.4 percent, but experts claim that the number is much higher.