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Initial constraints like ICU bed shortages and gear scarcity definitely had a basis. But those measure lasted long after the bottlenecks got resolved and the ri
by gpt5 3y ago
Initial constraints like ICU bed shortages and gear scarcity definitely had a basis. But those measure lasted long after the bottlenecks got resolved and the risk assessment became clearer. For example, public schools stayed remote while virtually every private school switched to in-person (even California's governor opted for private in-person schooling for their kids).
The public's frustration is that these prolonged, seemingly arbitrary measures outlasted their initial justification.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoHospitals were closer to collapse in 2022 than they were in 2020 or 2021 in my experience.
- seanthemon 3y agoAny way to substantiate that claim? I also assume you mean in the US.
- slv77 3y agoDeaths peaked in 2021 but hospitalizations peaked in 2022. Hospitals were at higher capacity in 2022 but treatment protocols had improved reducing mortality rates. Deaths caught the headlines so people missed the surge. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-hospitalizations https://ourworldindata.org/covid-hospitalizations
- seanthemon 3y agoI wonder if suddenly going from masks and sanitizing constantly to immediately stopping (at least in my country) may have contributed to the sudden jump. Also we were encouraged not to visit the hospital unless it was necessary so many opted not to for almost 3 years.
- slv77 3y agoICU capacity was a bottleneck that never got resolved. In the US there was never a nationwide effort to mobilize ICU resources to target hot spots other than an initial aborted attempt to gather respirators for the surge in NYC and send a military floating hospital. Regional programs were put into place to shift patients during a local surge and to mobilize hallways and other non-traditional capacity. In California once capacity dropped below 10% health orders went into effect. At the beginning of 2023 and well after widespread vaccination the California statewide capacity was at 24% availability with 7% of beds being taken by Covid patients. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Regional-ICU-Capacity.aspx https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Reg...
- n8henrie 3y agoI am still struggling to find transfer facilities with available ICU beds.
- firesteelrain 3y agoThis has been studied ALOT lately. Here is one such paper https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9383939 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9383939
- GenerocUsername 3y agoDidn't that huge hospital ship in New York sit unused until it eventually left
- slv77 3y agoThe hospital ship was never intended to take covid patients. The idea was the ship would take non-covid cases leaving ICU capacity in hospitals. It turns out that military hospital ships aren’t great for the general population given bulkheads and the general layout of ships.
- listenallyall 3y agoThe massive Javits Center was also made available. 2500 beds, only 141 used. https://gothamist.com/news/fema-begin-strategic-drawdown-largely-empty-javits-center-and-usns-comfort https://gothamist.com/news/fema-begin-strategic-drawdown-lar...
- Kelkolo 3y agoThe ICU bed issue was very long ongoing issue in Germany too. And everyone working at those hospitals didn't see any light for month/years