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Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

brusselstimes.com

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Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#131

Post by latchkey »

Auracle wrote: post #95
petercooper wrote: post #25

Viruses are interesting things. I once enjoyed a case study about an outbreak of common cold on an Antarctic base that only happened after 17 weeks of isolation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2130424/ (I'm no virologist but given that the common cold didn't seem to be impacted by the severe lockdowns in the UK at all, whereas flu was, I've gotten the - uneducated - feeling the cold is a bit like some S…

If I get really low on sleep I’ll usually develop a cold, even if I haven’t been around anyone that’s had one in some time. I feel like there’s a lot to virology we don’t have a good grasp on.

We literally just discovered a new muscle in the jaw. It isn't a feeling that you have, it is a fact.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#132

Post by trentnix »

tandymodel100 wrote: post #127
trentnix wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s pretty simple. They are more likely to get sick and more likely to infect those whose care they are entrusted with. In a vacuum, that makes sense. But in the midst of genuine shortage of healthcare professionals, it's myopic foolishness. And I'd guess your comment about the lasting effect of actual recovery is going to turn out to be very wrong and already contradicts most everything I've seen recently regardi…

In all honesty I don't want people uneducated or conspiracy-minded enough to not take the vaccine treating me anyway even in a shortage situation.

Let them eat cake!

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#133

Post by maxerickson »

nradov wrote: post #129
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The AMA doesn't want an oversupply of competition.

False. The current physician shortage is primarily caused by insufficient federal funding for medical residencies. Every year there are doctors who graduate from medical school but are never allowed to practice medicine because they can't get matched to a residency program. The AMA has been lobbying Congress to increase the supply for years. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-fun...

There's other sources of money. Hospitals have like a trillion dollars of revenue at this point, I bet diverting some of that to training doctors would work out fine.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#134

Post by WalterBright »

anamax wrote: post #112
WalterBright wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've all got pneumonia in our lungs, which gain ascendancy when the body becomes weakened. It's been historically dubbed the "Old Man's Friend" because it would peacefully carry off someone who was suffering under some other terminal illness.

As someone who has had pneumonia, it's not an "Old Man's Friend". There's nothing "peaceful" about pneumonia. It's a very frightening strangling feeling. The only thing "peaceful" about it is that you don't have the energy express the horror.

This was related to me by my father, who had pneumonia as a teen and it nearly killed him. He was allergic to penicillin, and had to endure without it.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#135

Post by slenk »

anamax wrote: post #113
physicsgraph wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are your thoughts on the hospitalization of infected people? Hospitals are at capacity or overflowing.

If you're not running your hospital near capacity, you're losing money.

Yeah but you usually don't want every ER _and_ ICU bed full

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#136

Post by nradov »

tandymodel100 wrote: post #128
enchiridion wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about scale up the hospitals, or at least covid capacity in a meaningful way. How long does they public have to bear burden of insufficient health infra. EDIT: Sorry that might have come off a bit blunt. But the entire pandemic response has been frustratingly insufficient in my opinion. A variant like Omicron was long predicted and expected. How are we not prepared with a plan to end lockdowns? And blaming unvacc…

> How are we not prepared with a plan to end lockdowns? We don't have lockdowns, and haven't had lockdowns in America > And blaming unvaccinated or anti-maskers is not a good answer Blaming the unvaccinated, who comprise the overwhelming majority of those that get hospitalized, spread it and die, is a good answer. I think a lot of this is solved by deprioritizing them at triage time or letting them recuperate at home…

I encourage everyone eligible to get vaccinated but blaming people for making unhealthy choices isn't an effective public health measure. It didn't work in the HIV/AIDS pandemic and it won't work now. Better to focus on education and harm minimization.

Due to EMTALA, hospitals in the US are required to treat unstable patients regardless of vaccination status. Changing that would require an Act of Congress. Also note that there is no 100% reliable way for hospitals to determine a particular patient's vaccination status; the registries have some data quality and record linkage problems.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#137

Post by dragonwriter »

enchiridion wrote: post #88
zzzeek wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 100% about hospital capacity and mass death. When hospitals around the country are no longer turning away cancer patients needing treatments and have plenty of ICUs for heart attacks and such, when they no longer have to rent fleets of refrigerator trucks every outbreak to store the bodies, the restrictions will end. It has always been about that and nothing more.

How about scale up the hospitals, or at least covid capacity in a meaningful way. How long does they public have to bear burden of insufficient health infra. EDIT: Sorry that might have come off a bit blunt. But the entire pandemic response has been frustratingly insufficient in my opinion. A variant like Omicron was long predicted and expected. How are we not prepared with a plan to end lockdowns? And blaming unvacc…

> How are we not prepared with a plan to end lockdowns?

We barely ever had anything approximating lockdowns and they ended long ago. We don't generally make plans to do things after they are already done.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#138

Post by enchiridion »

tandymodel100 wrote: post #128
enchiridion wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about scale up the hospitals, or at least covid capacity in a meaningful way. How long does they public have to bear burden of insufficient health infra. EDIT: Sorry that might have come off a bit blunt. But the entire pandemic response has been frustratingly insufficient in my opinion. A variant like Omicron was long predicted and expected. How are we not prepared with a plan to end lockdowns? And blaming unvacc…

> How are we not prepared with a plan to end lockdowns? We don't have lockdowns, and haven't had lockdowns in America > And blaming unvaccinated or anti-maskers is not a good answer Blaming the unvaccinated, who comprise the overwhelming majority of those that get hospitalized, spread it and die, is a good answer. I think a lot of this is solved by deprioritizing them at triage time or letting them recuperate at home…

I share your frustration, but the anti-vax people were expected. It’s like sitting into the wind at this point. The game plan should’ve been built around there non-compliance.

Poor leadership only plans for things going how they want.

As far as lockdowns are concerned, we have had the mass shutdown of in person school and work, as well as the forced closure of many restaurants and entertainment venues.

I was using the shorthand.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#139

Post by tandymodel100 »

enchiridion wrote: post #138
tandymodel100 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How are we not prepared with a plan to end lockdowns? We don't have lockdowns, and haven't had lockdowns in America > And blaming unvaccinated or anti-maskers is not a good answer Blaming the unvaccinated, who comprise the overwhelming majority of those that get hospitalized, spread it and die, is a good answer. I think a lot of this is solved by deprioritizing them at triage time or letting them recuperate at home…

I share your frustration, but the anti-vax people were expected. It’s like sitting into the wind at this point. The game plan should’ve been built around there non-compliance. Poor leadership only plans for things going how they want. As far as lockdowns are concerned, we have had the mass shutdown of in person school and work, as well as the forced closure of many restaurants and entertainment venues. I was using th…

> The game plan should’ve been built around there non-compliance.

That is correct, and that's why they proposed the OSHA rule for mandating vaccinations after months of incentives. I think some % of non-compliance is understandable, but the remaining unvaccinated seem to be doing it for political reasons over anything else.

> As far as lockdowns are concerned, we have had the mass shutdown of in person school and work, as well as the forced closure of many restaurants and entertainment venues.

Right, we had those last year. Not since, in America at least.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#140

Post by claytongulick »

tandymodel100 wrote: post #127
trentnix wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s pretty simple. They are more likely to get sick and more likely to infect those whose care they are entrusted with. In a vacuum, that makes sense. But in the midst of genuine shortage of healthcare professionals, it's myopic foolishness. And I'd guess your comment about the lasting effect of actual recovery is going to turn out to be very wrong and already contradicts most everything I've seen recently regardi…

In all honesty I don't want people uneducated or conspiracy-minded enough to not take the vaccine treating me anyway even in a shortage situation.

You don't want people who have medical degrees and are experts in their field treating you?

Because you have a better understanding of this than they do?

That seems like a strange position to take.

I would take a different position, like "what do these highly qualified health care workers understand that I don't?"

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