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Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

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Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#221

Post by throwaway55554 »

theli0nheart wrote: post #107
vnchr wrote: post #34

Well, that’s some fear mongering. The article is all anecdotes. Most of the nurses and doctors they talked to are anonymous sources. According to the AHA[1], there are 6,146 hospitals in the US. There are 68,000 confirmed covid-19 cases in the US, and 33,000 of those cases are all in New York—almost 10x more than the next states (4.4k NJ, 3.2k CA)[2]. I don’t know the rate of hospitalization for the infected, but sym…

This isn't fear-mongering. This is reality. My dad is a practicing internist in Miami. He told me last night that every ICU in the area is already filled with patients. I doubt every single one of those patients has been tested and is counting towards these official numbers.

This is key. We're still not testing in large enough numbers to know the extent of this.

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#222

Post by smcl »

smacktoward wrote: post #102
joshlemer wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is "death cult" just a fancy way of insulting people nowadays? Or is the US administration literally associated with a religious movement that worships death or the dead?

You must have missed the most recent round of GOP talking points, where they were suggesting we write off the lives of people in high-risk groups so everyone else can get back to work. See https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.vice.com/en_us/arti... , https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fox-news-contributor-on-pu... , https://www.mediaite.com/news/glenn-beck-issues-call-for-old... for a few examples.

The same party that has been scaremongering against socialised healthcare saying it involves "death panels".

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#223

Post by seymore_12 »

lordnacho wrote: post #53
thaumasiotes wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about this event makes the flu shot more important than otherwise?

Flu is so common that people don't realise simple things like washing your hands and getting the shot would reduce the cost massively. With Covid19 we can all see the cost, upfront and at the same time. I'm wondering if we could actually kill the flu by sitting still for a bit. Say we stopped the world, which apparently is a possibility now. Would that get rid of it? And if it would, would it be worth it?

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

― Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#224

Post by 3JPLW »

yters wrote: post #215
3JPLW wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extensive — super extensive — testing, contact tracing, and strong quarantining of suspected and confirmed positives. From the get-go.

yes that all seems like things we could easily do in the US. i dont know why the gov doesnt push this, vs mass ineffective lockdowns

We don't have enough tests to do it. The testing backlog is getting worse — not better. The current backlog is estimated at 7-14 days in some areas.

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#225

Post by EvanAnderson »

smacktoward wrote: post #102
joshlemer wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is "death cult" just a fancy way of insulting people nowadays? Or is the US administration literally associated with a religious movement that worships death or the dead?

You must have missed the most recent round of GOP talking points, where they were suggesting we write off the lives of people in high-risk groups so everyone else can get back to work. See https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.vice.com/en_us/arti... , https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fox-news-contributor-on-pu... , https://www.mediaite.com/news/glenn-beck-issues-call-for-old... for a few examples.

My perception of registered Republicans (not so much people who might incidentally vote Republican) is that the average age is pretty high. I wonder how these viewpoints sit with the older party members.

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#226

Post by ceejayoz »

throw1234651234 wrote: post #201
Zelphyr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I do. Helps that I live with a Nurse Practitioner. However, the number of people I know who are convinced that getting the flu shot makes them sick or gives them the flu and thus refuse to get the shot is shocking. Some things I've actually heard: "I get sick every time!" No, you don't. "It's a LIVE VIRUS! Everybody knows this!" No, it's not. You're just an idiot hanging around with idiots.

It IS a live virus in many cases: "A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine I have nothing against vaccines, but my understanding is that you CAN get sick from it.

The definition of "sick" matters here.

A dead-virus vaccine like the flu shot cannot give you the flu. It can cause "sick" side-effects (for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain%E2%80%93Barr%C3%A9_sy..., or the fairly common aches and pains from the immune response), but not the flu.

A live-virus vaccine like the flu nasal spray can give you the flu, especially if you're immune suppressed or something along those lines.

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#227

Post by 3JPLW »

yters wrote: post #209
Gibbon1 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

South Korea stockpiled enough supplies to do mass testing and contact tracing right out of the gate. And they have a functional government and a public that knows when to obey.

doesnt sound like what the OP was proposing also, sk only tested people with significant ailments

There's a difference in timeframe and scope here. You can get away with testing and individual quarantines if you start early.

Now, 1 in 3 (!!) tests are coming back positive in NY. Too many people have it at this point for it to be effective.

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#228

Post by mohaine »

gridlockd wrote: post #168
sg47 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got my flu shot last year, still ended up with severe flu in February. The flu shot is not completely effective.

Its effectiveness has on average been less than 50% in the past decades, sometimes far lower. There's just too many strains and to much seasonal variability.

But they usually also decrease the severity of the symptoms, even when they don't completely block them. This is almost as important as the full effectiveness as helps decreases death and hospital time.

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#229

Post by js2 »

viklove wrote: post #218
js2 wrote: post #16

The 2017-2018 flu season also overwhelmed US hospitals: https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patie... https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season-2017-2018.ht... My point isn't that we should take Coronavirus any less seriously this year. Healthcare workers have no vaccine for it. It's on top of the flu. Etc. My point is that we should take the flu more seriously every year. Everyone gets their…

> Loyola University Health System in Chicago—which set a hospital flu-activity record of 190 confirmed cases between January 7 and 13 It's not even close to what we saw just this week from coronavirus. Stop making a comparison where there isn't one to be made, this is much worse than the flu.

Coronavirus is serious. Also, get your flu shot. I don't understand why this is even remotely controversial.

Re: Coronavirus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals

#230

Post by summerdown2 »

thomascgalvin wrote: post #202
VikingCoder wrote: post #81

It's weird, it's almost like this is following the exponential growth that literally everyone said it would.

Our current political process follows a simple loop: 1. Experts describe the likely outcome of a course of action. 2. Those experts are declared to be frauds, their views labeled a hoax or fake news. 3. We implement the policy the experts were trying to warn us about. 4. The experts' warnings come to pass. 5. We learn nothing, and repeat the whole cycle with the next issue.

From 'Yes, Prime Minister,' a comedy show in the UK in the 80s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSXIetP5iak

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