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We've had a year at this point to prepare. Was there any effort to ramp up additional temporary facilities? Is it ICU beds, equipment or healthcare workers whe

by viknod 6y ago

We've had a year at this point to prepare. Was there any effort to ramp up additional temporary facilities? Is it ICU beds, equipment or healthcare workers where we are falling short? From what I've read, the need for ventilator seems to be non-issue due to early stage hospitalization protocol changes. Maybe it's not publicized, but it seems stay home was the only step A, with no step B. The time that bought us seems to have been wasted.

supernova87a 6y ago
It is nurses and doctors that are the limiting resource. That pipe cannot be increased easily.
- sologoub 6y ago
  I keep wondering where are the hospital ships? The military doctors and nurses? Looks like it’s been in Portland since July: https://www.myshiptracking.com/vessels/usns-mercy-mmsi-367816000-imo-7390454 https://www.myshiptracking.com/vessels/usns-mercy-mmsi-36781... Yet Oregon doesn’t seem to be in such dire straights as CA: https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/12/coronavirus-in-oregon-612-new-cases-0-new-deaths-as-oregonians-share-their-personal-pandemic-struggles.html?outputType=amp https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/12/coronavirus-in-orego...
  - a3n 6y ago
    A lot of "civilian" doctors and nurses are the military doctors and nurses, in the reserves.
gruez 6y ago
>We've had a year at this point to prepare. Was there any effort to ramp up additional temporary facilities? [...] Maybe it's not publicized, but it seems stay home was the only step A, with no step B. The time that bought us seems to have been wasted. That was the plan? As in, do lockdown, prepare hospitals, then lift lockdown and let the disease sweep through the country until we reach herd immunity? That would have resulted in hundreds of thousands or even millions of deaths. I always thought the plan was: lock down, wait until vaccine, get everyone vaccinated, then lift lock down.
- alacombe 6y ago
  > I always thought the plan was: lock down, wait until vaccine, get everyone vaccinated, then lift lock down. "Lockdown" were always sold as in "flattening the curve, not "wait for a vaccine".
  - ChainOfFools 6y ago
    And this is an entirely reasonable position to adopt when you do not yet know, as was the case in early 2020, how long a vaccine will take to develop, or if one can be developed at all.
- traceddd 6y ago
  The plan was always iterative lockdowns, followed by loosening of restrictions, as the virus is much more deadly when hospitals are overwhelmed. The earliest studies and models clearly recommend this as widespread natural immunity is a guaranteed way though and a successful vaccine is not. Human nature and politics have played their role, from both directions, for better or worse. So we’re all just betting on a vaccine, now.
Simulacra 6y ago
Perhaps the issue is that there is simply no money left.

by viknod 6y ago

supernova87a 6y ago

It is nurses and doctors that are the limiting resource. That pipe cannot be increased easily.

sologoub 6y ago
I keep wondering where are the hospital ships? The military doctors and nurses? Looks like it’s been in Portland since July: https://www.myshiptracking.com/vessels/usns-mercy-mmsi-367816000-imo-7390454 https://www.myshiptracking.com/vessels/usns-mercy-mmsi-36781... Yet Oregon doesn’t seem to be in such dire straights as CA: https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/12/coronavirus-in-oregon-612-new-cases-0-new-deaths-as-oregonians-share-their-personal-pandemic-struggles.html?outputType=amp https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/12/coronavirus-in-orego...
- a3n 6y ago
  A lot of "civilian" doctors and nurses are the military doctors and nurses, in the reserves.

gruez 6y ago

>We've had a year at this point to prepare. Was there any effort to ramp up additional temporary facilities? [...] Maybe it's not publicized, but it seems stay home was the only step A, with no step B. The time that bought us seems to have been wasted. That was the plan? As in, do lockdown, prepare hospitals, then lift lockdown and let the disease sweep through the country until we reach herd immunity? That would have resulted in hundreds of thousands or even millions of deaths. I always thought the plan was: lock down, wait until vaccine, get everyone vaccinated, then lift lock down.

alacombe 6y ago
> I always thought the plan was: lock down, wait until vaccine, get everyone vaccinated, then lift lock down. "Lockdown" were always sold as in "flattening the curve, not "wait for a vaccine".
- ChainOfFools 6y ago
  And this is an entirely reasonable position to adopt when you do not yet know, as was the case in early 2020, how long a vaccine will take to develop, or if one can be developed at all.
traceddd 6y ago
The plan was always iterative lockdowns, followed by loosening of restrictions, as the virus is much more deadly when hospitals are overwhelmed. The earliest studies and models clearly recommend this as widespread natural immunity is a guaranteed way though and a successful vaccine is not. Human nature and politics have played their role, from both directions, for better or worse. So we’re all just betting on a vaccine, now.

Simulacra 6y ago

Perhaps the issue is that there is simply no money left.