U.S. Medical Supply Ill Prepared for Second Wave of Virus, Dai Writes in Barron’s

If a second wave of the coronavirus emerges in the United States, the nation’s medical supply chain is not prepared to handle it, says Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Associate Professor Tinglong Dai in an op-ed that he co-authored for the business publication Barron’s.

The June 23 op-ed notes evidence of a resurgence in the growing number of reported coronavirus cases in southeastern and southwestern states. While some debate whether this amounts to a second wave of COVID-19, “one thing is clear: The U.S. health care system is still struggling,” says Dai and co-writer Christopher Tang, a University Distinguished Professor and Edward W. Carter chair in business administration at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Dai, a Carey faculty member since 2013, is an expert in operations management and business analytics. His research interests include health care, marketing-operations interfaces, and human-AI interaction.  

The lack of solid preparation for the pandemic “resulted in prolonged shortages of [personal protective equipment], especially N95 masks, which have been linked to over 300 deaths and 60,000 infections among U.S. health care workers as well as nearly 120,000 COVID-19 deaths across the country as of this writing,” Dai and Tang write.  

“Will the U.S. health care system have enough critical medical supplies to tame the first wave and prepare for the next pandemic (or the next wave of a pandemic)?” they ask. “The answer is sadly no … “

Dai and Tang conclude their op-ed with a note of hope: A successful response to a second wave will depend on “creating better visibility at the provider level, while … improving supply chain transparency through information exchange among providers.”

The article can also be found on the website of Marketwatch, a sister outlet of Barron’s.