3 ms·

Hospital beds were "maxed out" before the pandemic. [0] at around 64%. They are sitting at around 78% on average now, with hard hit areas at around 80-85% accor

Hospital beds were "maxed out" before the pandemic. [0] at around 64%. They are sitting at around 78% on average now, with hard hit areas at around 80-85% according to your link. These are almost all at-risk and unvaccinated people. That's my point. If mandates and lockdowns are based on case counts instead of actual dire outcomes, then I fear we're going to continue seeing strange policies and laws for people at little to no risk, namely children and the vaccinated. [0] https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200326/us-hospital-beds-were-maxed-out-before-pandemic#1 https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200326/us-hospital-beds-we...

president 5y ago
Apparently there was a flu epidemic during 2017-2018 and hospitals were being overwhelmed by flu patients [1]. [1] https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/ https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patie...
- js2 5y ago
  2017-2018 was an unusually deadly flu season: > More than 80,000 Americans died of the flu in the winter of 2017-2018, the highest number in over a decade, federal health officials said last week. Although 90 percent of those deaths were in people over age 65, the flu also killed 180 young children and teenagers, more than in any other year since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began using its current surveillance methods. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/health/flu-deaths-vaccine.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/health/flu-deaths-vaccine... Other contemporaneous reporting: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/health/flu-rates-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/health/flu-rates-deaths.h... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/health/flu-symptoms-virus-hospital.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/health/flu-symptoms-virus... Meanwhile: > Overall, more than 771,000 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the U.S. during the pandemic. About 385,000 were reported in 2020, according to CDC data, and more than 386,000 have been reported this year. https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20211122/us-covid-deaths-2021-surpass-2020-total https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20211122/us-covid-deaths-202... So 2021 alone has nearly 5x the Covid19 deaths as the 2017-2018 flu season. Also: > As of last Monday, nine hospitals in Michigan were 100 percent full (https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98159-523641--,00.html https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98159-5236...), and at least 20 others were at or above 90 percent capacity. Statewide, nearly one in four hospital patients (https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/michigan-hospitals-covid-induced-capacities-moods-turn-angrier https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/michigan-hosp...) has a confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19. In the last few weeks, my hospital has been consistently at or near capacity and nearly every day the vast majority of those patients are sick with Covid-19. Nearly all have been unvaccinated. > On some shifts, the stress in the air is palpable. My colleagues and I know the patients are piling up, but there just are not enough nurses to properly triage everyone. A patient experiencing heart failure waits in an emergency room because inpatient rooms upstairs are all occupied. Patients who need surgery can’t be transferred because nearly every hospital within a two-hour drive is near or at capacity, too. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/opinion/covid-michigan-surge.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/opinion/covid-michigan-su...

president 5y ago

Apparently there was a flu epidemic during 2017-2018 and hospitals were being overwhelmed by flu patients [1]. [1] https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/ https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patie...

js2 5y ago
2017-2018 was an unusually deadly flu season: > More than 80,000 Americans died of the flu in the winter of 2017-2018, the highest number in over a decade, federal health officials said last week. Although 90 percent of those deaths were in people over age 65, the flu also killed 180 young children and teenagers, more than in any other year since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began using its current surveillance methods. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/health/flu-deaths-vaccine.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/health/flu-deaths-vaccine... Other contemporaneous reporting: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/health/flu-rates-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/health/flu-rates-deaths.h... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/health/flu-symptoms-virus-hospital.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/health/flu-symptoms-virus... Meanwhile: > Overall, more than 771,000 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the U.S. during the pandemic. About 385,000 were reported in 2020, according to CDC data, and more than 386,000 have been reported this year. https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20211122/us-covid-deaths-2021-surpass-2020-total https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20211122/us-covid-deaths-202... So 2021 alone has nearly 5x the Covid19 deaths as the 2017-2018 flu season. Also: > As of last Monday, nine hospitals in Michigan were 100 percent full (https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98159-523641--,00.html https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98159-5236...), and at least 20 others were at or above 90 percent capacity. Statewide, nearly one in four hospital patients (https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/michigan-hospitals-covid-induced-capacities-moods-turn-angrier https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/michigan-hosp...) has a confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19. In the last few weeks, my hospital has been consistently at or near capacity and nearly every day the vast majority of those patients are sick with Covid-19. Nearly all have been unvaccinated. > On some shifts, the stress in the air is palpable. My colleagues and I know the patients are piling up, but there just are not enough nurses to properly triage everyone. A patient experiencing heart failure waits in an emergency room because inpatient rooms upstairs are all occupied. Patients who need surgery can’t be transferred because nearly every hospital within a two-hour drive is near or at capacity, too. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/opinion/covid-michigan-surge.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/opinion/covid-michigan-su...