Coronavirus Discussion Thread

[NomadicMedic]

Pretty much the same going on where I work too. ICU capacity at some hospitals is ZERO available beds. Apparently my county is starting to utilize the "surge" beds that haven't been utilized thus far this year. I quite suspect that hospitals are starting to send home patients that would normally be admitted, of course those patients would be those with relatively mild symptoms that would only be managed on a med/surg floor and not need IV fluids or IV meds. Some of those patients are getting an infusion of Bamlanivimab before going home. I don't see things getting much better for a while. This is, I think, the Thankgiving covid surge.

Same here. The influx of patients is unbelievable.

 

[RedBlanketRunner]

Re: A common and prevalent mentality expressed by some people here, the 'According to Hoyle' mindset. If it isn't done this way or if these procedures aren't the present standard or circumstances appear extraordinary or isn't the demographic that I work with it didn't happen, can't be correct, fake news / anecdote.
The house is obviously empty so we won't bother with a sweep. We have the patient right here. Why bother doing a full perimeter check to ascertain in there were other occupants in the vehicle.

Down to brass tacks.
Covid-19, these four people were isolated incidents, crossing the border illegally. Ignore the several hundred border jumpers in hiding knowing if they turn up they will be repatriated across the border and the Myanmar army is well known to shoot some of them on sight. The nearly 100 people hiding in the basement of a church, nearly all of them ill, knowing they are better off there than in those government care facilities.

Your equipment is not universal standard the world over. Your procedures are not accepted and applied in every country. People have markedly different attitudes and mindsets, country to country, culture to culture. The absurd in one location can be the norm right next door.

Conclusion jumping can cost lives. When dealing with epidemics the hazards of jumping to conclusions is exponentially higher. No brainer the trained medical worker assumes. Everyone will wear masks and social distance.

On these threads regarding C-19. "No big." "People are being laid off." "More than enough PPEs." "Less beds occupied." Your experiences and circumstances are not universal.

 

[Fezman92]

Once we get vaccinated I’m assuming that we will still have to wear masks and all of that

 

[RedBlanketRunner]

Patient wrapped and packaged, in the unit. Partner checking closely on patient called out to me to do a perimeter check. 30 feet from the vehicle on the other side of a 4 foot high wall I found a second victim. Patient in unit had whispered, "Where's Mike?"

17 years after we gave the new board planning the EMS system, along with all the latest EMT and pre-hospital patient care books and information, the use of C collars for forcible trauma victims is still not in the their procedures. Why? The people doing the training have no field experience and training is nearly entirely voluntary.

The Ministry of Tourism won this round. Country is opening it's borders to tourism as I write this. Loss of revenue the deciding factor. As a nod to the C-19 experts, various measures are being taken to prevent the spread of the virus. However, the entry quarantine mandate has been waived in lieu of various tests before and upon arrival. Daily infection rate had been well under 10 until the border jumpers on Nov. 24. Since then it's topping 20 and steadily climbing. 4169 infections, 60 deaths to date. Care to place bets where this is going?

I simply do not understand all these assumptions and conclusion jumpers. They aren't science. Yet even some of the top professionals indulge in them. If science and worst case scenarios had been running the show from Wuhan on we wouldn't be in these dire straights. Just because it isn't happening in your little corner of paradise or fits in your immediate mode of thinking doesn't mean it isn't real.

 

[VentMonkey]

I'm back to work after being out with it for a good while. It hit the whole household like a ton of bricks right around T-Day; definitely not worth reliving.

As far as all the political jargon, "theories", and relevant/ irrelevant data? Welp, I'm just grateful my wife didn't end up sicker than I thought she was turning for a bit. And I'm pretty much over all of this.

In short, you suck, Covid.

 

[GMCmedic]

Pretty much the same going on where I work too. ICU capacity at some hospitals is ZERO available beds. Apparently my county is starting to utilize the "surge" beds that haven't been utilized thus far this year. I quite suspect that hospitals are starting to send home patients that would normally be admitted, of course those patients would be those with relatively mild symptoms that would only be managed on a med/surg floor and not need IV fluids or IV meds. Some of those patients are getting an infusion of Bamlanivimab before going home. I don't see things getting much better for a while. This is, I think, the Thankgiving covid surge.

I think youre not just seeing a Thanskgiving surge, but actual Covid season.

I still think we severely over reacted in March/April (non covid season) and now were paying for it.

 

[RedBlanketRunner]

Sense of smell finally returning. This AM the powerful reek of the perfume in laundry detergent and my eggs and sausage breakfast, not jesting or exaggerating, smelled like fish fried in diesel oil. C-19 combined with a neurological condition is not recommended.

In short, you suck, Covid.

Amen to that. Glad she's on the road to recovery.

 

[Fezman92]

I still think we severely over reacted in March/April (non covid season) and now were paying for it.

what do you mean by that?

 

[RedBlanketRunner]

I still think we severely over reacted in March/April (non covid season) and now were paying for it.

what do you mean by that?

Over reaction seems to be relative to the situation and numerous particular circumstances such as mindsets and cultures.
* Over reaction? Wuhan, C-19 outbreak. From numerous accounts, some first hand, in less than one week over 2 million law enforcement, emergency services, the military, and sundry were mobilized. Streets became ghost towns, nobody was allowed to go anywhere. An unknown number of detentions occurred. In part, no doubt, a reaction on the government's part to an initial under-reaction and dissemination of falsehoods.
* March/April in the US.
- An obvious under reaction as all the charts of the spread of the virus and statistics clearly show.
- An obvious under reaction as to the dissemination of factual information regarding the hazards of the disease. where falsehoods and outright propaganda were allowed to sway the judgement of millions of people.
- Present over reaction as armed mobs protest the violation of 'inalienable rights' of individuals.

The real problem is blatantly obvious and apparent: politics, personal agendas, lack of trust and trust squandered, has supplanted the proper scientific methodology that could have curtailed the spread of the disease. The problem is made exponentially worse by a lack of education and trustworthy information that isn't littered, poisoned, by pseudo science, rumors, hearsay, and outright fantasies.
At this juncture with the country so fiercely divided, the term irreducible seems to best apply.

 

[GMCmedic]

what do you mean by that?

We always had a pretty good idea that it would have a season. Unfortunately for us that season wasn't in the spring when we had 3 months of flatten the curve in most places.

It appears at the moment that covid season will line up with flu season.

 

[GMCmedic]

Over reaction seems to be relative to the situation and numerous particular circumstances such as mindsets and cultures.
* Over reaction? Wuhan, C-19 outbreak. From numerous accounts, some first hand, in less than one week over 2 million law enforcement, emergency services, the military, and sundry were mobilized. Streets became ghost towns, nobody was allowed to go anywhere. An unknown number of detentions occurred. In part, no doubt, a reaction on the government's part to an initial under-reaction and dissemination of falsehoods.
* March/April in the US.
- An obvious under reaction as all the charts of the spread of the virus and statistics clearly show.
- An obvious under reaction as to the dissemination of factual information regarding the hazards of the disease. where falsehoods and outright propaganda were allowed to sway the judgement of millions of people.
- Present over reaction as armed mobs protest the violation of 'inalienable rights' of individuals.

The real problem is blatantly obvious and apparent: politics, personal agendas, lack of trust and trust squandered, has supplanted the proper scientific methodology that could have curtailed the spread of the disease. The problem is made exponentially worse by a lack of education and trustworthy information that isn't littered, poisoned, by pseudo science, rumors, hearsay, and outright fantasies.
At this juncture with the country so fiercely divided, the term irreducible seems to best apply.

Under reaction? We closed the entire country because of what was happening in New York, a city thay has had a decades long chronic bed shortage. Meanwhile politicians burned any good faith they had, putting us in the position were in now, where most of the country has chronic bed shortages.

 

[RedBlanketRunner]

Under reaction? We closed the entire country

Then opened it right back up prematurely. Compare Thailand statistics to the US. Thailand shut down in February and has just started to reopen this week. Other examples are easily available. Cue the 'economy' argument.

Rachael Maddow's interview in this video is very much worth a listen. Especially the part about the hazards not hitting home with the individual and the message getting across better when it's a close friend or loved one who gets the full C-19 hit.

 

[GMCmedic]

Then opened it right back up prematurely. Compare Thailand statistics to the US. Thailand shut down in February and has just started to reopen this week. Other examples are easily available. Cue the 'economy' argument.

Rachael Maddow's interview in this video is very much worth a listen. Especially the part about the hazards not hitting home with the individual and the message getting across better when it's a close friend or loved one who gets the full C-19 hit.

Dont cherry pick the qoute to meet your argument.

For the most part, ICUs werent packed full in July and August when restrictions were for the most part lifted across the Nation. They are full now, hence why I am suggesting were now in Covid season, and we were at the tail end of it during the "flatten the curve" debacle. We didnt open prematurely, we closed prematurely.

 

[RedBlanketRunner]

Dont cherry pick the qoute to meet your argument.

It cherry picked itself. Was watching that interview when I paused and dropped in here.

For the most part, ICUs werent packed full in July and August when restrictions were for the most part lifted across the Nation. They are full now, hence why I am suggesting were now in Covid season, and we were at the tail end of it during the "flatten the curve" debacle. We didnt open prematurely, we closed prematurely.

Valid contention. Ignoring the many expert warnings of a second wave and calm before the storm scenarios, which proved spot on. So the contention is based upon people getting frustrated and becoming disobedient. Why did they do this and not heed the warnings? Were they fed misinformation? Were they making unwarranted assumptions? Were they fully informed, without contradictions, of the potential grave consequences of their actions and that by the end of the year the US would likely be seeing over 3000 deaths per day? Yes, they were, but the experts were drowned out by unscientific noise.
A choice, blame premature, or immature, listening to and believing bad advice.

 

[RedBlanketRunner]

It's a little odd, keeping track of what's happening in the US with C-19 and the various protests, then comparing them to here. People have the jitters with the 4 hookers that went out socializing that later tested positive. Masks back on everywhere voluntarily, the local markets turned into gauntlets as people try to keep their distance. Many people coming up with all sorts of excuses to not go into the city. What said it all was our farmer neighbor far out in the middle of his fields alone, hoeing furrows, wearing a mask.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Once we get vaccinated I’m assuming that we will still have to wear masks and all of that

Yes. We'll be in masks well into 2021

 

[Carlos Danger]

Yes. We'll be in masks well into 2021

What is the point of being vaccinated then?

 

[cruiseforever]

What is the point of being vaccinated then?

I've heard that you maybe vaccinated and will not get ill. But their not sure if you still can carry it and get others ill.

 

[cruiseforever]

Where the hell are you guys working? It is nothing like that where I am from. EMS volumes ways down... ER census way down. ICU maybe a little higher census, but not near capacity. Literally, laying off ER staff and or EMS.

Minnesota here. The spring for us was like you mentioned for your area. But now it's crazy. Every shift I have Covid pts. and some of them are very ill. Took a guy I used to work with in. He was very ill. The scary part is he's younger than me.

 

[akflightmedic]

Here in Maine...every hospital is overloaded, no beds, ER packed to capacity. They would bring back the COVID tents but we do not have staff to place in them. On the EMS side, we are running our asses off, confirmed COVIDs every single shift. Local nursing homes inundated. We had to go back to our State Pandemic Phase 4 guideline, basically refusing to transport some patients. Stay at home or in the nursing home and quarantine. I am getting hammered both pre-hospital and in the ER. One nursing home in particular had 8 deaths this past week and now has over 100 COVID+ in house and 30 staff COVID +.