Some people have floated the idea of letting military trained medics help out. One aspect of law that I don't personally understand is that if you're a military medic, even a battle hardened one who field dresses blown-up legs and the like, none--zip, zero, zilch--of that training counts toward shit to even become a civilian EMT, let alone a nurse or physician assistant. I have a buddy who was a Navy corpsman, who while enlisted was allowed to more or less treat disease (under a doctor's supervision, of course), but who could only find work as a transport person in an ER when he returned from active duty. There are some ideas out there of passing laws that temporarily remove some of those restrictions. I don't know how much that could increase the supply of providers, but it sure couldn't hurt.Still can't believe we haven't subsidized medical equipment production, emergency hospital construction, and training of personnel. I don't really give a shit how the needs are met, but whatever's not transpiring right now is making me very, very upset. If invoking wartime production legal precedent is required, do it.
All military medics receive their EMT-B. It's not a paramedic license so their scope is definitely limited, but it's more than nothing. Withholding paramedic licenses absolutely makes sense; the training received and average proficiency of a military medic is far below that of a paramedic (except when it comes to trauma). That being said, the average military medic would be more than able to assist with COVID-19 response with minimal additional training. The real problem comes with the posse comitatus act. There are certain ways to get around it, but that's one hell of a dangerous precedent.