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Yes I remember a few similar stories that made front-page news on various establishment sites. Most of them were very similar: - older person has some sort of

Yes I remember a few similar stories that made front-page news on various establishment sites. Most of them were very similar: - older person has some sort of non-covid related serious illness or injury - can't get ICU bed in the "top" hospital in their area due to ICU overflows. - Thus, patient sent to less renowned hospital where he eventually succumbs to disease or injury. - Media blames Covid / unvaxxed for his death. A couple points that they never mention: - ICUs, by design, are usually at 90% full, so these scenarios happened before Covid due to just random odds of a few extra people needing ICU beds at some particular hospital in some particular week. - If the media has to trot out stories of 70 year olds with chronic heart failure who may have been saved had they been able to get a bed in the nation's top cardiology department instead of merely some average hospital, then does it really represent a legitimate issue the rest of us should be concerned about? It reminds me of how the media kept demanding we accept the narrative that Covid was super deadly to children, when by all accounts it's less dangerous than the flu, swimming pools, etc even BEFORE the CDC quietly revised their own numbers* downward. So they'd push some article about a 22 year old died of Covid. "Look - this virus will kill your kids toooooo." And you'd actually read the article, and then realize it was some chronically sick kid who weighed 400 lbs and had suffered from severe respiratory and immune issues all their life. And you'd know - if this was the best example they could find to scare us - then you shouldn't really be scared. * https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/cdc-reports-fewer-covid-19-pediatric-deaths-after-data-correction-2022-03-18/ https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...

spookthesunset 5y ago
2020 was the year context was thrown out the window. Imagine if these articles provided context in their headlines…
HarryHirsch 5y ago
The average ICU occupancy is actually ~ 70 %, to have some slack in it during the annual flu season. If patients have to be turned away because everywhere is full, then there's a problem. Also, under normal circumstances, people tend to spend only a few days in ICU, then they are either better or dead, but serious Covid cases require weeks of artificial respiration, even a few cases tie up a lot of hospital resources. And what's with the focus on Covid deaths - Covid sequelae are a thing and can significantly affect quality of life. My colleague is in his mid-20's, in good health - he had a mild case last Fall and still hasn't got his sense of smell back. When you can't smell methacrylic ester you know there's a problem.
- spookthesunset 5y ago
  Post viral crap happens with all other sorts of respiratory viruses. Covid is far from unique when it comes to that.

spookthesunset 5y ago

2020 was the year context was thrown out the window. Imagine if these articles provided context in their headlines…

HarryHirsch 5y ago

The average ICU occupancy is actually ~ 70 %, to have some slack in it during the annual flu season. If patients have to be turned away because everywhere is full, then there's a problem. Also, under normal circumstances, people tend to spend only a few days in ICU, then they are either better or dead, but serious Covid cases require weeks of artificial respiration, even a few cases tie up a lot of hospital resources. And what's with the focus on Covid deaths - Covid sequelae are a thing and can significantly affect quality of life. My colleague is in his mid-20's, in good health - he had a mild case last Fall and still hasn't got his sense of smell back. When you can't smell methacrylic ester you know there's a problem.

spookthesunset 5y ago
Post viral crap happens with all other sorts of respiratory viruses. Covid is far from unique when it comes to that.