PSA: please do not get sick, injured, or have any other medical emergencies

[NJF]

Our hospital is overwhelmed and we have no beds or personnel to provide timely care for medical emergency due to omicron. Please take care of yourself and stay away from the hospitals.

Edited January 14, 2022 by NJF

[+ Lucky]

Going to the ER here always meant waits of 7 hours or so. I can only imagine what it is now. I don't want to find out!

[+ sync]

One of my nurse cousins advised me a few weeks ago that all the hospitals in my area were at capacity.

It's very uncomfortable knowing there are no alternatives to selfcare for anything.

[NJF]

The good news is it will be over eventually in a couple weeks.

[NJF]

2 minutes ago, topunderachiever said:

That's what they said in March of 2020.  

The difference this time is that 50-60 % of the population will be infected after this current wave. There will be far fewer fresh bodies to infect. 

[+ FreshFluff]

8 hours ago, NJF said:

The difference this time is that 50-60 % of the population will be infected after this current wave. There will be far fewer fresh bodies to infect. 

Omicron apparently evades immunity from prior infection from other variants. Do you think future variants will be be the same way?

[NJF]

36 minutes ago, FreshFluff said:

Omicron apparently evades immunity from prior infection from other variants. Do you think future variants will be be the same way?

Covid accumulates one mutation every two weeks. So there are 50 mutations on average by now for each strains. A lot of these mutations are inconsequential but some of them do change the virulence and infectious abilities. Alpha, delta and now omicron are some of the more notable strains. 

[+ FreshFluff]

2 minutes ago, NJF said:

Covid accumulates one mutation every two weeks. So there are 50 mutations on average by now for each strains. A lot of these mutations are inconsequential but some of them do change the virulence and infectious abilities. Alpha, delta and now omicron are some of the more notable strains. 

I should have said “strain” rather than “mutation.”

[NJF]

There is no way to predict what is in the store for the future. One thing is certain: the more people are infected, the chances of new virulent strains emerging get greater. So it is in everyone’s interest to end this pandemic sooner rather than later. Immunization of the rest of the globe is also very important. 

[mike carey]

15 minutes ago, NJF said:

A lot of these mutations are inconsequential but some of them do change the virulence and infectious abilities. Alpha, delta and now omicron are some of the more notable strains. 

This is why the WHO designates variants of interest only when the virus manifests sufficient variation to warrant separate tracking, Those variants were allocated a Greek letter designator. Only a minority of variants of interest are elevated to variants of concern, IIRC Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron so far. So far successive variants have out-competed their predecessors (if they didn't, they would probably have faded away instead). The earlier versions seem not to exist in the same populations as a later one except while the newer one is establishing itself. At the moment Delta is still around but being replaced by Omicron, although there may be residual clusters of it where Omicron is yet to appear.

[+ tassojunior]

I'm not so sure this has as much to do with Covid as the Great Resignation. My docs and dentist tell me there's just no staff, clerical, nursing, cleaning, etc. still employed.  ICUs and hospital #'s will drop but I doubt normal healthcare will get better until staff salaries get better. MedPageToday is my go-to and they have a good article today on what needs to be done quickly:

 

The Entire Healthcare System Is on the Brink of Breakdown

— Policymakers must help address the national emergency of healthcare workforce shortages

[NJF]

After the constant stress of the last two years, is it really a surprise that we have a shortage in hospital staffs now?

Here is a fun fact: the most acute crisis we have right now is the lack of adequate cleaning staff.

Edited January 16, 2022 by NJF

[+ Tygerscent]

On 1/14/2022 at 12:11 PM, NJF said:

Our hospital is overwhelmed and we have no beds or personnel to provide timely care for medical emergency due to omicron. Please take care of yourself and stay away from the hospitals.

I think what is missed at times by those who think covid is superficial and unimposing is that, medical facilities were already stressed by the ever growing population prior to coronavirus and they were built for people who have diseases other than covid… 

 Not only do covid patients accrue extraordinary expenses of their own and place a financial burden on insurance companies and the country in general with unemployment etc., but, it also affects the health care workers themselves~ (They get extended, exhausted, sick, are separated from their families at times, pass away…)~ 

 i’m sure that there were a lot of people who were considering the healthcare profession before Covid came but, now that it’s here, the profession does not seem as appealing. Not just as a matter of pay but, the risk level involved, the incredible pressure, lots of fatalities from young to older…  

 There used to be a lot of women nurses out there and a growing number of women moving into the physician and physicians assistant positions but, if you were younger person and all the older people are getting sick and you’re thinking about going into the medical field but maybe want to have a family, it might not be so attractive  to think that you might be working and pregnant and then get Covid. It’s a big decision for a woman who wants to have a family~

 The responsibilities of the job have changed and people themselves have changed inside: our hearts and minds~  
 There’s really no motivation driving people towards that profession. There’s no sense of duty or desire to motive people~ It’s not an inexpensive field to invest in in terms of education financially. And afterwords insurance…
 My own medical training involved being in labs, autopsies, grand rounds, volunteer services concentrating on  community health, dealing directly with people… Aside from the textbook part there was a lot of direct people to people experience that was needed if a person was planning on getting a medical position. That’s more difficult now on some levels.

 Now the education is not just the rigorous and competitive and process of learning medicine prior to Covid, now there is pandemic training and we are still learning how to do that. We’re making things up as we go it’s a trailblazing process that we’re going through right now. What we think is the right thing to do today was maybe not the right thing to do in 2020 or 2021 or 2023 or 2024~  Not knowing what works and what we’re really fighting is also a liability for medical institutions, healthcare facilities and healthcare providers.

 If you’re not really experienced in this new era of medicine and you’re going into a Covid environment there’s a lot of uncertainties there. Not only by newbies but, seasoned health care workers~

  Insurance companies, hospitals and schools may not be as willing to embrace that type of education or know how… They may need to find something more clever in terms of training people. 
 Healthcare professionals don’t just have the responsibility of taking care of a greater proportion of unhealthy individuals whether they be Covid or non-Covid but, now they have the responsibility of having to choose which people live according to their potential survival gaged by whatever it is that they are suffering from. 
You don’t just have to learn about cancer or diabetes or cardiovascular disease or kidney disease… You have to learn about those things with Covid and how Covid affects them in numerous populations.

 Covid is really expensive~ 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Tygerscent

[+ Tygerscent]

10 hours ago, NJF said:

After the constant stress of the last two years, is it really a surprise that we have a shortage in hospital staffs now?

Here is a fun fact: the most acute crisis we have right now is the lack of adequate cleaning staff.

No surprise there… it be like: Hey buddy can you go Into that room and clean up all the Covid mucus an invisible Covid virus that’s floating around and sitting out all the shiny surfaces~? After that I’ve got like 15 more beds for you to do. How about that done before you take your first break because I got another 30 beds after thatAfter that I’ve got like 15 more beds for you to do. How about that done before you take your first break because I got another 30 beds after that~ BTW… we’re cutting your medical benefits due to corporate need but, raising your $11.48/hr wages to $13/hr~ Congrats~! Now get going… the day doesn’t wait for you~! We’re running out of gloves… So, can you just use those for the day~? Don’t worry it’ll be OK~ 

[+ Tygerscent]

On 1/15/2022 at 6:49 AM, sync said:

One of my nurse cousins advised me a few weeks ago that all the hospitals in my area were at capacity.

It's very uncomfortable knowing there are no alternatives to selfcare for anything.

What I really find unsettling and uncomfortable about this country is that the healthcare system is so much of a financial institution that they are constantly cutting costs by driving healthcare into a curative type system as opposed to preventative one. Somehow they’ve gotten the idea that they’re going to save money by not performing tests unless you are showing signs of actual disease~ Preventative medicine is greatly underrepresented~ Somehow they’ve decided it’s financially more lucrative to wait until people get really sick and then treat them, despite The astronomical costs of those types of lab tests, equipment and treatments, hospital time for patients~
  

[+ Tygerscent]

On 1/15/2022 at 9:04 AM, NJF said:

The difference this time is that 50-60 % of the population will be infected after this current wave. There will be far fewer fresh bodies to infect. 

Well far fewer fresh bodies to infect with the virus that’s out there now but, that’s also 50 to 60% more people that serve Petri dishes for the virus to mutate in. (In the millions per infected person).
 Did moves in a similar fashion to cold or the flu but, it’s not the cold or the flu… It’s coronavirus: some thing that we as a species are completely naïve to up until two years ago~ 

 Our bodies haven’t even figured out how to handle influenza after how many thousands of years~ without things like antibiotics and some antivirals, we wouldn’t have the same casual feelings about the flu or the cold.

 The problem with Covid is, we don’t really have that same arsenal of prophylaxis to treat people with yet… the virus keeps changing on us~ 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Tygerscent

[+ Tygerscent]

On 1/15/2022 at 5:40 PM, FreshFluff said:

Omicron apparently evades immunity from prior infection from other variants. Do you think future variants will be be the same way?

Exactly… we are a naïve population to this virus… It’s like when Europeans brought over Himalayan blackberries. They’re all across the North American continent and they’re an invasive species. Once they’re in your yard or someplace you don’t want them it’s really difficult to get rid of them. Even if you pull them out and poison the freaking things, little pieces of the roots can still grow~ You can spray them out but, anybody in agriculture does that anything that you spray on a plant whether it be insecticide, fungicide, herbicide eventually fails because the plants and their predators, (bugs, mold, fungus, viruses, bacteria), all mutate around the poison used to treat them~

  This virus also has proven to Leap between species… The proof is that it came from a different species and leapt into us~ 

 it is unlikely that this will be the only one microbe to do that~ 

 

[+ Tygerscent]

On 1/15/2022 at 6:54 PM, mike carey said:

This is why the WHO designates variants of interest only when the virus manifests sufficient variation to warrant separate tracking, Those variants were allocated a Greek letter designator. Only a minority of variants of interest are elevated to variants of concern, IIRC Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron so far. So far successive variants have out-competed their predecessors (if they didn't, they would probably have faded away instead). The earlier versions seem not to exist in the same populations as a later one except while the newer one is establishing itself. At the moment Delta is still around but being replaced by Omicron, although there may be residual clusters of it where Omicron is yet to appear.

I was talking to some people and we were considering the possibility and probabOf multiple variance being able to cohabitate within the same individual. Multi variant infection… Maybe even swapping genetic material within the same hostility Of multiple variance being able to cohabitate within the same individual. Multi variant infection… Maybe even swapping genetic material within the same host~ it mutates so quickly and it spreads so quickly and we don’t really have boundaries between populations anymore the way we used to. Even the flu of the early 1900’s had a much Smaller population to create mischief in… There were still boundaries between countries and people… We didn’t have global transportation of goods and services the way we do now. There’s always open doors a new populations that are different enough to just keep this thing traveling~ 

[+ tassojunior]

From my recent experiences it seems what the article I cited is saying is that video appointment visits are going to be much more standard. Like Zoom, I tire of having to use these video meetings but I guess with practice. ......

It won't help with the dentist though.

[+ Tygerscent]

On 1/15/2022 at 6:26 PM, FreshFluff said:

I should have said “strain” rather than “mutation.”

Mustraintion: The Covid mutation wave that seems to come almost monthly especially around the holidays~ 

[+ Tygerscent]

Just now, tassojunior said:

From my recent experiences it seems what the article I cited is saying is that video appointment visits are going to be much more standard. Like Zoom, I tire of having to use these video meetings but I guess with practice. ......

It won't help with the dentist though.

Yes… I think about that too~ The future of dentistry. It’s really become complicated~ 

 Dentists and hygienists are right up their in Covid’a home office~ 

 I for one actually really like having the zoom or telephone conference with my doctors… I can multitask and do other stuff. I don’t have to take hours out of my day or an entire day to go and have something done at the doctors office that can really be handled outside of that~ 

 I think it would also help if we taught some of that medical training in school… Some homecare and some self care so that we are not so reliant on The healthcare services and professionals to do things that we can do at home. We could really do a lot of good if we educated people about health maintenance that is geared towards  preventative medicine~ Part of reducing the need for medical care is Doing the things that keep you out of the doctors office and out of the hospital. This could  also potentially reduce the cost of healthcare~ 

[+ Tygerscent]

On 1/15/2022 at 6:22 PM, NJF said:

Covid accumulates one mutation every two weeks. So there are 50 mutations on average by now for each strains. A lot of these mutations are inconsequential but some of them do change the virulence and infectious abilities. Alpha, delta and now omicron are some of the more notable strains. 

The Beta Cov’s presented as particularly dangerous to people as well~ 

[+ purplekow]

Things are finally quieting down here in NJ.  Full hospitals and absence of monoclonal antibody have been problematic but staffing has been especially problematic.  There are so many per diem nurses that do not know the ins and outs of the hospital that even routine procedures and care are taking much longer.   

Over the New Years weekend, I admitted about 30 Covid patient's to the hospital with many of those having asymptomatic Covid as well as another condition which required their hospitalization.   Vast majority of those coming in for just Covid were unvaccinated.  The ones with asymptomatic Covid plus another issue were about 60 40 with unvaccinated predominating but to a much lesser degree.   

Good news is, there seem to be many fewer deaths but the bad news is that many of the patients are much younger than we have seen in the past and some of those are getting very sick but surviving.  Long term health issues are yet to be determined but are likely in those people.  

So stay safe.   Get vaccinated if you have not and get boosted as well if you have already had the first two.    For all the nonsense of making this a political issue it is primarily a public health issue and it will be a major financial issue as we continue to spend billions on caring for people who would not require as much care if they had simply been vaccinated.   

 

[NJF]

5 hours ago, purplekow said:

Things are finally quieting down here in NJ.  Full hospitals and absence of monoclonal antibody have been problematic but staffing has been especially problematic.  There are so many per diem nurses that do not know the ins and outs of the hospital that even routine procedures and care are taking much longer.   

Over the New Years weekend, I admitted about 30 Covid patient's to the hospital with many of those having asymptomatic Covid as well as another condition which required their hospitalization.   Vast majority of those coming in for just Covid were unvaccinated.  The ones with asymptomatic Covid plus another issue were about 60 40 with unvaccinated predominating but to a much lesser degree.   

Good news is, there seem to be many fewer deaths but the bad news is that many of the patients are much younger than we have seen in the past and some of those are getting very sick but surviving.  Long term health issues are yet to be determined but are likely in those people.  

So stay safe.   Get vaccinated if you have not and get boosted as well if you have already had the first two.    For all the nonsense of making this a political issue it is primarily a public health issue and it will be a major financial issue as we continue to spend billions on caring for people who would not require as much care if they had simply been vaccinated.   

 

The long-term financial burden is only going to get bigger as there is no end insight for this pandemic.

There should be a public debate about whether insurance should cover long-covid if one refuses to be vaccinated and then contracted the disease. The cost of care for long covid is going to be enormous.

Edited January 17, 2022 by NJF

[+ tassojunior]

I guess the days of in-office doctor visits are a quaint memory. I hate zoom for seeing a doc because the video is not always great and it takes forever for the doc to show up under the best circumstances. I guess sending photos and waiting on a call-back telephone appointment is a little easier. With the great cameras in phones it even works for dermatology. And i've also noticed in serious things they immediately run a lot of the new genetic tests that show what you probably have or will get. It's a new world in medical care.

But besides dentists, I'm not so sure this new method works well for the elderly. Besides being uncomfortable with or unaware of Zoom, there are more "wrong" things going on that interact and personal appearance  including mobility means a lot. And the labs aren't staffed well either.

Dealing with Kaiser in DC I've learned to never ask for "my" doctor but to ask for "any" doctor for a personal appointment and even then it takes two weeks at best. Seeing a specialist like a dermatologist is like asking for an audience with the pope. Two months ago when I had a skin condition they agreed was very urgent they bumped me up to an appointment that was only 1 month out. Since then it's gotten worse as they don't even have anyone for appointments in dermatology. Routine care collapsed and I'm afraid that's the new normal with so many resignations. The best safeguard with Kaiser seems to be Urgent Care. They are still at top speed fully staffed and take walk-ins, not just referrals. My experience with Kaiser Urgent Care last year was excellent. 

And we've always got google.