Coronavirus prep

1696697699701702747

Replies

  • ElioraFR
    ElioraFR Posts: 91 Member
    Idk where you are getting your stats but mine read that hospital admissions have pretty much leveled like a plateau.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    edited January 2022
    ElioraFR wrote: »
    Idk where you are getting your stats but mine read that hospital admissions have pretty much leveled like a plateau.

    There are literally a ton of articles just like this one...

    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/omicron-pushes-us-covid-hospitalizations-toward-record-high-2022-01-07/

    As per my own states DOH stats, hospitalizations have surged well beyond any previous record for a given period.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    allother94 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    @allother94,
    It's mind boggling that people are still not choosing to get vaccinated. They must be seeing all of this play out?? But instead of turning unvaccinated people away at the hospitals, why don't they turn them away everywhere else? Maybe it'd force their hand a bit more. JMO

    They say the problem with the spread is overcrowding hospitals. If that really is the problem, then that is what they should address…

    When someone says "They say" or "They should", without further amplifying, I wonder who the heck "they" are.

    So, who is the "they" who should address the overcrowding of hospitals, and how should they do that, specifically - what are your ideas?

    I suspect that public health authorities and governmental officials - here in the US, dunno where you are - believe that they are trying to address the overcrowding of hospitals by forming support teams of military members and sending them out to help staff hospitals, helping to build/equip auxiliary facilities where staffing is less the constraint, trying to limit exposures in less economically vital sectors or in less economically destructive ways (mask mandates, vaccination requirements, limiting crowding in social situations, etc.) . . . and telling people who aren't vaccinated to get vaccinated so they stop being the overwhelmingly largest group now overcrowding the hospitals.

    If it's hospital administrators who are "they", I suspect they believe they're trying to address the overcrowding by converting wards that aren't usually infectious disease wards to wards for Covid patients, hiring traveling staff at exorbitant pay rates, eliminating elective surgeries (which aren't all trivial things!) to free up staff and space, requiring staff to be vaccinated to avoid further short-staffing from more-rampant sickness and the resulting absenteeism among staff, rededicating administrative staff to things like cleaning duties (yes, that's happening, in some places near me), and much more.

    What are your ideas for what more "they" should do, to address hospital overcrowding, that's actionable and realistic?

    Shouldn't "we" do our part, by getting vaccinated, avoiding truly unnecessary ER visits, and that sort of thing?

    My suggestion is that hospital administrat,ors make a policy that no unvaccinated Covid patients are accepted once the ICU or the hospital as a whole are at 90% capacity. That's generous, , tbh... Probably should just be no unvaccinated patients at all (even non-Covid patients).

    Edit: Is that specific enough?!

    Sure. It wasn't really you I was asking, though: The question was more about the handwaving generalities in a PP.

    I don't think your suggestion will fly, legally, but it's a tempting fantasy . . . and quite specific. 😉

    Personally, I think "they" are mostly doing what can be done, realistically, within the overall constraints of complicated interacting (and even conflicting) factors, including legal constraints that are often not obvious to people not professionals in the relevant field(s). I'm glad I don't have those jobs "they" have.

    I just tend to 🙄 at "they should just fix X problem" kinds of assertions, especially when an unspoken aspect of it is ". . . so I or my friends don't personally have to be inconvenienced, blamed, be made to feel uncomfortable, blah blah blah". I don't feel like you've really taken that approach in this thread.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Here's something that I do not understand... An employee where I work was sick and took a home test on Fri., Came up positive. He was very sick on Mon. and went to the Dr. where he tested positive and was given a note saying he can go back to work in 3 days. When did the standard become 3 days?! It is 5 days for positive when asymptomatic, but this person is NOT asymptomatic at all. WTF?!

    I can do you one better. California, due to nursing shortages, has just said that nurses who test positive can still work if they wear masks. Not nurses who are EXPOSED, nurses who actually have covid. Caring for patients, who might or might not have covid.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    Here's something that I do not understand... An employee where I work was sick and took a home test on Fri., Came up positive. He was very sick on Mon. and went to the Dr. where he tested positive and was given a note saying he can go back to work in 3 days. When did the standard become 3 days?! It is 5 days for positive when asymptomatic, but this person is NOT asymptomatic at all. WTF?!

    I can do you one better. California, due to nursing shortages, has just said that nurses who test positive can still work if they wear masks. Not nurses who are EXPOSED, nurses who actually have covid. Caring for patients, who might or might not have covid.

    Yes, I heard this on Sun. and thought that was crazy.
  • SModa61
    SModa61 Posts: 2,829 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    allother94 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    allother94 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    @allother94,
    It's mind boggling that people are still not choosing to get vaccinated. They must be seeing all of this play out?? But instead of turning unvaccinated people away at the hospitals, why don't they turn them away everywhere else? Maybe it'd force their hand a bit more. JMO

    They say the problem with the spread is overcrowding hospitals. If that really is the problem, then that is what they should address…

    Well yes, But what is currently causing overcrowded hospitals? Has there ever been a time it's been this bad and the medical professionals have been stretched this thin? Shouldn't they address the origin of this issue? And if more people were having mild cases as opposed to life-threatening lung problems, the hospitals wouldn't be filling up their ICU's, etc. :( And statistics show if a person's been fully vaccinated, most likely their symptoms will be milder. And people are still refusing to get the vaccine, some with legit reasons but my guess is most are not.
    JMO
    ETA: I realize vaccines still aren't a 100% guarantee of anything; they never were and never will be. But nobody can argue the fact that they do help. Numbers don't lie.

    Unfortunately, people don’t want to get vaccinated. We need to accept this and find a better solution

    This reminds me of the joke about someone knowing that God will save him from rising flood waters. So he ignores the evacuation orders. When the roads are impassible he waves off a boat rescue. Water keeps rising forcing him onto his roof yet he refuses a helicopter rescue. Eventually he perishes and asks God why He didn’t save him. God responds, “I tried. I sent a warning, a boat and a helicopter. You didn’t accept being saved.”

    Point is vaccines are the “better solution.” We need to accept that and avail ourselves of the lifesaving medical miracle that they are. The other ways to reduce transmission—masking, testing, distancing, closing gathering places— aren’t 100% effective either, and closing/limiting businesses has more negative consequences for the economy and people’s livelihoods. Obviously people are resisting those measures, too.

    Well said!

    I still cannot believe the numbers of people not masking up anymore. :( What gives with that; such a simple thing to do. I realize if you're vaccinated chances are better you'll get a lesser case. BUT you're still contagious and maybe the next person you pass it to, won't be as lucky?? All the stores now have signs saying 'if you're not vaccinated please wear a mask'. How about, 'we require masks or no admittance'? That way everyone protects themselves and each other in the process.
    SMH

    All the Massachusetts stores I have been recently now have signs requiring masks. What I do not know is whether they actively enforce this.