Credit report, Karl. Thank you. Can you explain why the number of deaths is increasing at such an alarming rate. I thought that the new cases were from restaurants and other large event Gatherings. Is it possible to generalize?
On Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 5:47 PM Karl Wittnebel via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > Yes we can shift a lot of resources around. But you have to realize it > means nothing else is getting done. All elective surgeries are cancelled > until further notice. All of our anesthesia residents have been temporarily > assigned to ICUs, along with every other qualified fellow (cardiology etc) > in the institution. Currently about 310 of our 900 total beds are occupied > by covid patients, and we are increasing by 15-20 covid patients per day. > The peak in April was 160. Not looking good. Some hospitals in the state > are something like 80-90% covid patients, e.g. El Centro. > > The limit on hospital beds is more often a staffing limit than a physical > limit. It isnt like there is a huge pool of RNs out there available to hire > to staff an extra 20 beds every day. This is particularly true of ICU > nurses. Most nurses dont work in ICUs. Respiratory therapists are also in > high demand. Overtime is very expensive. > > If you come into the ER for any non-covid reason, your care will be > impacted, including the ambulance taking you to a distant facility because > the ER where you would like to be taken is closed. > > At any rate we will do what we have to do. Most of the fear mongering is > media driven - not hospitals or providers. Our hospital is normally full. > Giving up over 300 beds is a big deal. But no one is in the parking lot - > yet. > > Hospitals are only "businesses" in the sense that they are not publically > supported, so they run as nonprofits typically. They have to watch the > bottom line or they can run out of cash quickly. If they were not run as > businesses, we would have to pay for them with tax money. > > Daily new cases seem to have peaked here now, but hospitalizations tend to > lag the new cases by a week or two. So we could easily be over 400 patients > in hospital before this wave subsides. We also have no idea why we are even > in a wave, as we remain mostly locked down, but there are lots of people in > high density housing working essential jobs who are likely contributing, > and apparently that is enough to cause a spike. > > In other news, some details of the botched CDC testing fiasco. What a > cluster this turned out to be when they could have simply bought some tests > from Thailand or Korea. A real "perfect is the enemy of good" scenario: > > https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/cdc-covid/2020/12/25/c2b418ae-4206-11eb-8db8-395dedaaa036_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F2de0633%2F5fe766a79d2fda0efb94a093%2F5e2922849bbc0f632602b279%2F8%2F68%2F5fe766a79d2fda0efb94a093 > > On Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 11:41 AM Meade Dillon via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > My understanding of the hospital bed "shortage" is that hospitals are > > businesses, and having an empty bed "just because" is a money losing > > proposition. Thus the number of available beds is set based on demand > and > > forecasted demand. Chicken Little crying about the sky is falling > because > > hospital beds are nearly full / nearly at capacity is deceptive > > fear-mongering. When the demand exists, hospitals will meet it. Back at > > the start of this panic, the US. Navy hospital ships were mobilized, one > to > > each coast, and they were not used to treat Wuhan Red Death patients. > That > > would be a money losing proposition for the hospitals, so no one should > be > > surprised. > > ------------- > > Max > > Charleston SC > > > > > > On Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 11:12 AM Curt Raymond via Mercedes < > > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > > You do bring up a good point about hospitals being hit with shortages > > > again. You'd have thought that having the summer off they'd have > stocked > > up > > > on PPE. I've certainly stocked us up on cleaners, TP and paper towels. > > I've > > > got meat and frozen veg laid in assuming we're going to be locked down > > > starting at the first of the year. > > > Apparently hospital administrators don't think ahead. Angie has laid > in a > > > year's worth (!) of masks, rubber gloves and cleaner for her practice > > > although I expect her to be closed down after the holidays. > > > -Curt > > > > > > On Sunday, December 20, 2020, 6:11:39 PM EST, Clay Monroe via > > Mercedes > > > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > > > Short term success in this plague is no measure of long term > > > effectiveness. > > > > > > There are small victories that have not withstood the test of time. > > > Kauai, HI shut itself off for seven months and now is being hard hit by > > > infections. AK also thought it had a handle, but that early control > was > > > shown to be immune to the reality of disease spread. New Zealand also > > > though they had mastered it, but keeps getting hit while being sealed > off > > > from the world. And the list of places that followed the narrative of > > > plague control are now hotbeds. > > > > > > The West Coast is full of sheeple who would willingly follow mandates > and > > > narrative. Yet that willingness to isolate and mask has not translated > > > into a reduction. Medical centers are filled to the gills. Maybe the > > > agenda would have been more effective had historical data been used to > > plan > > > for the inevitable secondary and tertiary waves that would truly tax > and > > be > > > greater yet than initial contagion. The public was shown those trends > as > > > they were trotted out by talking heads and officials as a means to > > convince > > > the populace that such as thing as “flatten the curve”. Which really > > just > > > meant to prolong the disease until an effective response could be > > > mustered. > > > > > > Today we are witnessing just what a sham the flat curve was. Nobody > > seems > > > to have bulked up a response to better handle the coming surge. Where > > are > > > the bigger treatment centers and beds? Who has all the N95 masking, > > > gloves, gowns that the current wave requires? How many of the laid off > > > medical staff are being repurposed to care for both the infected as > well > > as > > > those requiring normal care? The disease has been kept at a simmer… > low > > > and slow. That seems to point to an effort to keep it a crisis, not to > > > effectuate a reliable treatment or cure. > > > > > > Now the discussion is how to triage. Since the pooch was screwed, we > > will > > > now be looking at providing treatment for those who can be saved > instead > > of > > > the heroics for all methods used over the last ten months. Today, > > doctors > > > and administrators really are deciding whose Granny gets to live and > who > > > they will be sending to the morgue. An acceptance of the reality of > > > lacking required resources, proper treatments, true dimensions of the > > > transmission, and hubris those in charge are guilty of. May have been > > more > > > realistic to have allowed the thing to burn out and achieve herd > immunity > > > naturally. That is what happens in Africa with Ebola, no matter how > much > > > prancing around WHO/UN/MSF and the Gates Foundation did. > > > > > > It will be decades before there is enough verifiable data to show what > > > really was effective and what was tissue paper dreams. Just like > medical > > > proclamation of the magic of radiation treatments has turned out to > have > > > been a lethal dose of false narratives. From Marie Curie on, and that > is > > > just one example of modern doctors and medical professionals getting > > things > > > oh, so, very wrong. Diet pills, pain pills, early government endorsed > > > treatments for HIV/AIDS turned out to be damaging, ineffective, or > > outright > > > toxic and became public health embarrassments. All that Oxy pushed by > > > doctors could well be the root cause of the homeless crisis. FDA and > CDC > > > endorsed the use. Look how right they got this crisis. Or, lets ban > and > > > not allow research into THC, which is very effective in treatment of > many > > > health issues. Helps with side effects of chemo, ophthalmic issues, > and > > > might even assist in breaking fatal outcomes in opioids laces with > > > fentanyl. (Currently being investigated in BC Canada) > > > > > > There are no simple or easy solutions. There are no political > personages > > > who were not chasing their own tails on this. Because those supposed > to > > be > > > “enlightened” and medically trained or establishment endorsed speaking > > > heads could not provide a reliable or consistent message from the > start, > > > and kept on vacillating if not daily then on a weekly basis. Hard to > > hit a > > > target spun out of control by the people you are supposed to trust on > the > > > issue. > > > > > > Clay > > > > > > > > > inter urinas et faeces nascimur > > > > > > > On Dec 19, 2020, at 7:34 PM, Karl Wittnebel via Mercedes < > > > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > That is a reasonable question. I tend to think that had they been > > allowed > > > > to do what they wanted to do, based upon their expertise in this > area, > > > > rather than being micromanaged at every turn by people with no formal > > > > training in medicine, public health, or any other form of scientific > > > > endeavor, that things would have been very different in terms of the > > > course > > > > of this epidemic and its magnitude. We have lots of examples of > > countries > > > > that had a strong centralized government response, and did far better > > > than > > > > we have in terms of deaths per 100k. > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
