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I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

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Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#131

Post by J-dawg »

dannyw wrote: post #119
thedrbrian wrote: post #112

> I haven’t hugged my family in over two months — anything to keep them from contracting a virus that could kill them. It could but they look fairly young and as long as they’ve no comorbidities they’ll be fine.

It’s incredibly true. We know coronavirus is only really dangerous to the elderly and those with weakened immunity systems. So why aren’t we focusing all the attention and effort on protecting the most vulnerable, instead of spreading misinformation like “COVID doesn’t discriminate” (it does) and panicking over schools while sending confirmed positive patients back to nursing homes?

I agree - this kind of misinformation is so widespread now. It seems completely counter productive.

The other bit of widespread misinformation is the 2m/6ft distancing thing. It's just an arbitrary number.

Weirdly the fearmongering makes me feel like being less careful, not more. The way I see it, if COVID is really so contagious that I'm likely to catch it from a stranger's exhaled breath as I pass them in the street, then I'm guaranteed to catch it eventually, so what's the point?

I'm sure it can technically be transmitted in this way, but what's the actual probability? Tiny enough to not be worth worrying about, I expect.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#132

Post by gizmo »

kmonsen wrote: post #100
majormajor wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't "hope" that I'm expressing. This is me saying that *if we never try, we'll never succeed, at ANYTHING, not just at this. You're convinced hard equals impossible. Which is definitely part of why the US is so incompetent when it comes to this (or healthcare in general). People don't care that we suck. I just find that sad and horrifying. Let's say you take NYC, where the cases have been tailing off, and you…

Contract testing is no go in the US, herd immunity is not realistic. It’s open up as much as we can and wait for vaccine. Is not going to be good if there is a second wave. I think South Korea, Hong king and Singapore already had second wave.

South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore haven't even had a real first wave yet. They're at 5 deaths per million, that's nothing.

The US, by contrast, has rapidly increasing herd immunity. That's why the trend is going down despite less social distancing. And there has never been a working coronavirus vaccin, so the assumption there will be one for covid19 soon is unfounded optimism.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#133

Post by dillonmckay »

smabie wrote: post #44
throwawaylalala wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually not easy; not every place has facilities for that. Wife is a nurse, and we went through this discussion of the best process when she was an ICU nurse during the Ebola scare five years ago. Remember too, sometimes folks are on the way to work in their scrubs, not necessarily leaving work.

It's really not that hard to change your clothes in a bathroom. Especially in a hospital, where they certainly have a wheelchair accessible large private one. Also, many large hospitals also have a gym, so you could just change there.

How sanitary is that? A small room that is aerosolizing feces and urine after each flush?

I doubt there is a lid on the toilet.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#134

Post by gizmo »

thedrbrian wrote: post #112

> I haven’t hugged my family in over two months — anything to keep them from contracting a virus that could kill them. It could but they look fairly young and as long as they’ve no comorbidities they’ll be fine.

Yes, the sad reality is that this doctor is completely delusional about the actual risks of covid because of his first-hand experiences. The news amplifies this kind of hysteria so badly that doctors start believing they and their coworkers might die if they leave their wrists exposed. It would be comical, if it didn't have such a large societal impact.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#135

Post by ansible »

afiori wrote: post #110
beachy wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're seriously saying that a "short burst of mass deaths" is a better option than getting your shit together and doing proper social distancing followed by proper contact tracing? It's great that we've got rid of the virus for now in NZ, but yes, there are many questions, including whether there will still be an incentive to even try for a vaccine once major countries reach herd immunity (if and when that happens).…

> the US - the country that went to the moon, that invented the internet, that built a military capability that literally saved the world in ww2 two of those are in part result of propaganda

>> the US - the country that went to the moon, that invented the internet, that built a military capability that literally saved the world in ww2 > two of those are in part result of propaganda

Eh, no.

We (the USA) did really go to the moon, though I know some USA citizens dispute that.

It was really USA universities and corporations (with DARPA funding) that built the foundations of Ethernet, TCP/IP and the Internet. Yes, plenty of contributions from others (including foreign grad students), but still, USA institutions.

The USA produced a lot of war material for all the Allies in WW2. A lot went to the USSR to keep them in the fight. This in no way should diminish the absolutely unprecedented loss and sacrifice of the USSR peoples in the Great Patriotic War, who bore the brunt of it. But without the USA, I really doubt the Allies could have stopped the Axis powers.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#136

Post by gizmo »

J-dawg wrote: post #131
dannyw wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s incredibly true. We know coronavirus is only really dangerous to the elderly and those with weakened immunity systems. So why aren’t we focusing all the attention and effort on protecting the most vulnerable, instead of spreading misinformation like “COVID doesn’t discriminate” (it does) and panicking over schools while sending confirmed positive patients back to nursing homes?

I agree - this kind of misinformation is so widespread now. It seems completely counter productive. The other bit of widespread misinformation is the 2m/6ft distancing thing. It's just an arbitrary number. Weirdly the fearmongering makes me feel like being less careful, not more. The way I see it, if COVID is really so contagious that I'm likely to catch it from a stranger's exhaled breath as I pass them in the stree…

Tiny exposure to covid (by passing somebody on the street) is exceptionally unlikely to make you sick, but it will help your immune system recognize the enemy. This builds partial immunity and if you get exposed for real at some later point your immune system will be able to kick into gear right away.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#137

Post by fhsm »

thescriptkiddie wrote: post #65
syntheticnature wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leaving aside the question of changing facilities... Where do the scrubs get washed, then? Do they need to bring a special bag to transport the scrubs so they can wash them at home? Does the bag need to be washed, too? If they leave the scrubs in the lockers if they "aren't too bad" (ha), how are the lockers cleaned to ensure that they are sanitary when they put their street clothes in? How do you ensure they are san…

This is anecdotal, but a friend of mine who works in healthcare once complained that hospitals used to (years ago) provide a cleaning service for scrubs and lab coats, but now the staff are expected to wash theirs at home.

True procedural scrubs are still washed by the hospital (really in most cases by a contract service provider).

Scrubs you see (assuming you don’t work in a procedural space) are not procedural scrubs. They are just clothing. You can be forgiven for being confused as many of those suits are taken / borrowed / stolen from the procedural scrub supply. This problem is serious enough in some places that scrubs are distributed with a vending machine system that tracks your (limited) allowed balance of outstanding sets.

A long time ago , when nurses and house officers worn uniforms and laundry was on site , non procedural clinical staff were wearing hospital laundered clothing. The uniforms, and the laundry service that went with it, went away decades ago though.

What to wear instead, in non procedural spaces, wasn’t every really clarified. I suspect Grays Anatomy and Scrubs helped to sort it out for this generation (although it’s highly regional and reasonably local) as did the economic importance of procedures.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#138

Post by geekybiz »

distant_hat wrote: post #115
40four wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is more complicated than that. Almost all states very early on had some level of 'lock-down', stay at home order, or what have you. This has limited movement of people, and as a side effect, or maybe even direct order from governors, closed down/ limited many business. Including hospitals. Hospitals in America, believe it nor not, are for profit businesses. It is un-intuitive, but many of them are in serio…

Lest someone think this is a US thing, this is true in India as well which has a fairly different medical system. Hospitals are struggling to stay afloat and many nurses and ancillary staff have been laid off. Doctors in India are typically independent contractors and not employed by hospitals. Not only are no non-essential activities happening, many essential ones are also being pushed back and people are dying as a…

Am from India & agree on this. Lockdowns helped slow the spread but aren't the perpetual answer. And the side-effects of lock-down (like essential services being pushed back) are taking lives. When evaluating lock-down's pros & cons, it always isn't life vs economy. It often also is Covid fatalities vs other fatalities. Atleast in India, that's happening.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#139

Post by kweinber »

gizmo wrote: post #132
kmonsen wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contract testing is no go in the US, herd immunity is not realistic. It’s open up as much as we can and wait for vaccine. Is not going to be good if there is a second wave. I think South Korea, Hong king and Singapore already had second wave.

South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore haven't even had a real first wave yet. They're at 5 deaths per million, that's nothing. The US, by contrast, has rapidly increasing herd immunity. That's why the trend is going down despite less social distancing. And there has never been a working coronavirus vaccin, so the assumption there will be one for covid19 soon is unfounded optimism.

Trend is up for new cases and hospital beds in almost every single state that opened early. The only exception is Georgia which has been caught falsifying data more than once.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#140

Post by gvjddbnvdrbv »

dannyw wrote: post #118
gvjddbnvdrbv wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-polio_syndrome Covid is a new disease. Will it have long term effects?

Coronavirus are not a new type of disease though.

This one is. Colds seem to be inconsequential (although there are questions about ME). SARS and MERS are rare and were either very deadly or very life altering. Covid seems to fall in the middle. Hopefully the long term effects for the majority will be similar to colds.
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