Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #63

[Lilibet]

had to go get blood taken today
they had proper procedures in place - distancing, hand sanitizer at entrance, screening questions, masks
but one lady decided she needed to be with her teen daughter outside the cubicle across from mine and the cubicles are close together so she was only a couple feet away from me
my nurse kept looking at her
I kept looking at her
I didn't say anything cause maybe she had a good reason to be back there with her daughter
but it annoyed the crap out of me

I’m really surprised the nurse didn’t say anything! Maybe she knew there would be an unpleasant scene.

 

[anneg]

I'm crying. My Fedex man just delivered my order. I told him I see him more than my kids and grandkids. I thanked him for his service and wondered how many lives he might've saved by making it possible for us to stay home and stay safe. He grabbed the side of the truck with his hand and leaned his head against the truck saying "Oh man". Then he turned around and faced me shaking his head and crying, "I'd do anything if I could bring my mom back".

Well, I have been so afraid of getting the virus and dying, leaving no one but the state to care for my grandson. It is for him that I have tried so hard to avoid germs. I only have gone to work and the store. My grandson hasn't left the house since school let out on March 13.

My Dad died yesterday, just laying out at the pool. I am picking up a rental car this afternoon and will be driving to San Francisco. I am afraid of the germs in a rental car. I'm afraid of the germs from hugs. I'm afraid of mortuary germs. I am afraid that I have no parents any more, and that I am alone (with my grandson)in this world. Sometimes I really feel that this life sucks. I feel lost, alone, and afraid.

Thanks for listening.

These two back-to-back posts from earlier today
were a one-two punch to my heart and brought tears.

Tillicum, you must have wanted to hug that man who was grieving the loss of his mother. What you said to him was wonderful. Recidivist, you truly need to be hugged and comforted after losing your Dad. Bless you for taking care of your grandson. Hang in there, and when you can, please let us know how you are doing.

 

[gitana1]

Thankfully the 1918 pandemic had run its course, but it would have been way worse in speakeasies!

Yeah, don’t get me started on empathy and civic responsibility.

I’m really sad about it. I feel like we are comparable right now to how Iran and Mexico have handled this pandemic, when it comes to our understanding of science and compassion toward one another.

 

[Lilibet]

Gone! I have heard the most horrendous things come out of peoples mouth. Young and old. It makes me so sad. I feel like I'm in the minority when I try to talk to people some times about masking.

Sorry, messed up my quotes, this was in reply to Gitana

Its very sad. My husband makes a big deal out of getting out of the way if someone without a mask walks by, but doesn’t say anything. There’s no point and you never know how they’ll react.

 

[gitana1]

I'm crying. My Fedex man just delivered my order. I told him I see him more than my kids and grandkids. I thanked him for his service and wondered how many lives he might've saved by making it possible for us to stay home and stay safe. He grabbed the side of the truck with his hand and leaned his head against the truck saying "Oh man". Then he turned around and faced me shaking his head and crying, "I'd do anything if I could bring my mom back".

Oh my gosh! It would’ve been hard for me not to hug him at that moment.

That was very sweet of you to thank him. They need our support.

 

[jjenny]

The whole point of the lockups was/is to allow frontline and other healthcare workers to prepare and sustain their ICU capacity. To ready themselves for the onslaught and then be able to keep up with ongoing new cases.
I think that is a point that many miss.

Overwhelmed ICU and hospital facilities = no prompt or proper medical assistance for many people. Not just covid cases, but for people having heart attacks/strokes/serious accidents ......

Then we are right back where we started, at least in some states hospitals are getting full.

 

[SouthAussie]

Thankfully, there was no deadly pandemic in the 1920’s in the US as bad as this one.

It astounds me how cavalier some can be about something that is harming so many people. Where is the civic responsibility? Where is the empathy for one’s fellow man?

My father lost both of his parents when he was 1 year old from the flu epidemic in the UK.
He ended up with an 'aunt' who wasn't particularly kind or thoughtful. She once ironed a wrinkle out of his shirt sleeve while he was wearing the shirt. He bore the scar from that his whole life.
And his 4 older siblings were re-homed all over the place and never really reunited.

I wonder how many people are thinking about the future of the children who are losing their parents now.

 

[10ofRods]

The whole point of the lockups was/is to allow frontline and other healthcare workers to prepare and sustain their ICU capacity. To ready themselves for the onslaught and then be able to keep up with ongoing new cases.
I think that is a point that many miss.

Overwhelmed ICU and hospital facilities = no prompt or proper medical assistance for many people. Not just covid cases, but for people having heart attacks/strokes/serious accidents ......

Well, the other goal is to get case loads as low as possible - as your nation has done. Then, suppress new outbreaks with ease, given that time was bought, new information is available and there are hardly any cases.

The number of cases needs to be very very low before "reopening." You guys did that, we didn't do that.

We are now having the problem you mention (overloaded hospital facilities, cancellation or transfer of regular patients, etc) in some states, anyway. And the only way to get out of it seems to be to shut down (as Florida and Texas are now doing a second time).

It helps that your population is a bit more spread out - but that's true of some places here too. Your population is almost the same as Florida's. Yesterday, Australia had 27 new cases for the whole nation. Florida had about 9000.

Yesterday, Australia had 1 death. Florida had 37 and is projected to go much higher in about a month, as the large number of new cases moves through, hospitals are crowded, medical staff are stretched - and new patients continue to increase in number, must be tested, triaged and treated. We're sending a lot of people home to self-isolate (with symptoms). In Florida, many of those people are young and live with extended family or with friends.

Texas is a bit larger than Australia in population. ~5100 cases yesterday and 32 deaths. It's taken a while for CoVid to really root itself in Texas - it could have been prevented, I suppose.

But we'd all have to work together like Australians, Canadians, Greeks, Vietnamese and New Zealanders did. Or at least be compliant and rigid about rational rules imposed by governments, as some nations did.

 

[RANCH]

Well, Sacramento is very fortunate then ... at the moment.

There are many, many people who have had to forgo 'elective surgeries' indefinitely. Just to free up hospital beds so that hospitals could be prepared for treating the virus cases.
And we all know that much of 'elective surgery' involves procedures to prolong a person's life and/or give them some acceptable quality of life that does not involve severe chronic pain and/or immobility.

From what I heard the hospitals here postponed elective surgeries to make room for covid patients that never arrived. Hospitals were/are empty losing millions of dollars in revenues.

Sutter Health suffered a $168M operating loss last month as COVID-19 upended finances

Like health systems across the country, Sutter has canceled elective surgical procedures that are vital to hospitals’ bottom line. They also saw a major decline in patient volumes heading to the hospital.

Sutter Health suffered a $168M operating loss last month as COVID-19 upended finances

 

[10ofRods]

I live in Sacramento California and ICU's and hospitals here were never close to being overwhelmed.


Sleep Train Arena field hospital goes into standby mode

You all could probably have waited longer to have a softer shutdown and kept watch, increased testing.

Of course, that would have taken regional/county plans. No one likes planning for a pandemic, although we've planned for fire and for mass shootings. We used to have pandemic planning in California (years ago). It's been a long time since anything like this has happened. Other nations were more prepared. No US state seems to have been prepared.

San Francisco has had a better course than, say, Manhattan or Los Angeles - for many reasons and one of this is the ability of many to work from home (it can stay that way for quite a while). Each city/county is different, for sure.

 

[SouthAussie]

From what I heard the hospitals here postponed elective surgeries to make room for covid patients that never arrived. Hospitals were/are empty losing millions of dollars in revenues.

Sutter Health suffered a $168M operating loss last month as COVID-19 upended finances



Sutter Health suffered a $168M operating loss last month as COVID-19 upended finances

Is Sacramento taking patients from other overwhelmed areas then? That could perhaps be an option, if revenue is the only concern.

 

[RANCH]

Sacramento county has a population of over 1.5 million people. So far we have had 2666 confirmed cases and 66 deaths.

COVID-19 map of California: Latest coronavirus cases by county

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sacramentocountycalifornia,CA/PST045219

 

[RANCH]

Is Sacramento taking patients from other overwhelmed areas then? That could perhaps be an option, if revenue is the only concern.

Don't know.

 

[jjenny]

From what I heard the hospitals here postponed elective surgeries to make room for covid patients that never arrived. Hospitals were/are empty losing millions of dollars in revenues.

Sutter Health suffered a $168M operating loss last month as COVID-19 upended finances



Sutter Health suffered a $168M operating loss last month as COVID-19 upended finances

Don't save never. They probably just have to wait a little longer.

 

[musicaljoke]

So the same thing that's been proven to be unsustainable.

I'm not sure what you mean. There's no need to sustain for long when everyone works for the same goal. We chose to eradicate, protect our health care providers and save lives. We feel strong and empowered.

 

[mickey2942]

If it’s at a huge amphitheater, the pastor would be too far away to be seen - so he would have to be projected on a large screen?
People still aren’t wearing masks in public in my area, so I would not be comfortable around a large group of people.
I hope he enjoys the service and it brings him joy in his heart.

No one was wearing a mask, so he took his off. You know, I am just not gonna get into it. He is happy. Shrug. That is okay.

 

[10ofRods]

Sacramento county has a population of over 1.5 million people. So far we have had 2666 confirmed cases and 66 deaths.

COVID-19 map of California: Latest coronavirus cases by county

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sacramentocountycalifornia,CA/PST045219

That's about the same number of deaths as in the African nation of Ivory Coast. It has a population of 23 million. I guess it's all in how you look at it - in the US, 62 people dead in a population of 1.5 million doesn't sound too bad - if we can keep it low. Just in the past 3 days, enough counties have put the brakes on that our projected deaths for end-of-September in California is now lower.

So we shall wobble like tops. CoVid fatigue is real and people are worried about work. Our heads are spinning.

 

[weepingangel]

An MMWR published today further adds to the growing body of research on risk by comparing data on pregnant and nonpregnant women with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Pregnant women were significantly more likely to be hospitalized, admitted to the intensive care unit, and receive mechanical ventilation than nonpregnant women; however, pregnant women were not at greater risk for death from COVID-19.

CDC updated list for severe risk

Coronavirus Disease 2019

 

[anneg]

That's about the same number of deaths as in the African nation of Ivory Coast. It has a population of 23 million. I guess it's all in how you look at it - in the US, 62 people dead in a population of 1.5 million doesn't sound too bad - if we can keep it low. Just in the past 3 days, enough counties have put the brakes on that our projected deaths for end-of-September in California is now lower.

So we shall wobble like tops. CoVid fatigue is real and people are worried about work. Our heads are spinning.

RBBM ... You said it! It's hard to keep up with the flood of news about COVID, protests, rallies, statues being toppled, the economy, etc., and process the information. Too much for my aging brain!

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Wow. I think maybe I heard about potassium at some point because I started bugging my husband about his (lack of) potassium intake. I'm so sorry you have to track potassium, but at least it's doable. Good point about the twitching. Hopefully her mini-strokes (maybe evidence of TIA's? Rare in younger people - but perhaps CoVid turns younger people very quickly into elderly people with electrolyte issues...)

I'm guessing that the first doctor knew that about potassium and blood sugar, which is why he called in the second doctor. I keep putting off going to the doctor over my chronic cough (started after intubation during a relatively minor procedure in January, it's not Covid). That'll be next week (that's what I said last week).

My doctor treated me via telehealth for a 3 month cough. It turned out to be asthma that had been aggravated by a virus I had in January. After a few different meds, symbicort and Singulair did the trick. I wish I had consulted her sooner.