Cozumel COVID-19 updates

[BRT]

I'm sure that's temporary.

Temporary...as in this year?

Hospitals are cutting staff just when America needs them most

 

[DandyDon]

Temporary...as in this year?

Hospitals are cutting staff just when America needs them most

Until the crisis hits there or it passes and elective surgeries resume.

 

[ggunn]

I don't think the stay at home orders are to hide out and hope the virus goes away. To the contrary, the whole point of this is to 1) flatten the curve so we don't overwhelm our health care system and 2) buy time until we can develop effective treatments for those infected and until we have a vaccine.

Yes, the effect on the economy is pretty damaging, but so would be a collapse of the health care system. Just because we are fighting this virus doesn't mean the rest of our ailments are on hold. People still are getting cancer, having heart attacks, etc. If our health care system collapses or is strained so much that it's functionality is greatly reduced, then we will not be able to deal with treatable conditions and more deaths would occur from those....not just from Covid-19.

My hope is in the short-term (next 3-6 months) we can get some effective treatment options that make the need for such intensive treatments like ventilators less needed and options that also reduce the lethality of this with with at-risk populations. If we can reduce the impact on the medical system and the mortality rate, we can start loosening the restrictions and slowly get back to normal. Just my two cents.

All true, of course. A collapse of the health care system like what happened in other places like Italy would result in a lot more COVID deaths as well as from other causes, and the economic toll would be a lot worse. In a first order sense, the measures we are all taking (at least I am) are more for the protection of our society than they are for the protection of the individual, but in a second order sense they make it safer out there for the individual. Unfortunately, I do not see an end game any time soon.

 

[nippurmagnum]

Until the crisis hits there or it passes and elective surgeries resume.

My brother is an anesthesiologist. His practice is down to about 30 percent of its normal workload, and trying to figure out how to keep two thirds of anesthesiologists in their practice from getting furloughed. No elective surgeries, and not nearly enough COVID patients to keep anesthesiologists working. The media keep reporting about hospitals being overrun with patients. Maybe on a given day, in a given city, at a given hospital. But generally not the case.

I'm sure that the crisis will pass and people will continue to get sick of other causes, and will continue to require surgeries and anesthesia. But don't underestimate the economic impact that this is having on medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, nurses' assistants, billing people, front desk staff, etc., many of whom are getting furloughed.

 

[Mark IV]

The media keep reporting about hospitals being overrun with patients. Maybe on a given day, in a given city, at a given hospital. But generally not the case.

I just heard from an old buddy, who just went through having a malignant melanoma tumor removed ( and in time, thankfully). He said the best thing about the experience was that the doctor's office, hospital, and waiting rooms were virtually empty, with no waiting,at all. And he said there'd been several covid deaths here in our small-town/ semi-rural area, so it's here.

 

[ggunn]

My brother is an anesthesiologist. His practice is down to about 30 percent of its normal workload, and trying to figure out how to keep two thirds of anesthesiologists in their practice from getting furloughed. No elective surgeries, and not nearly enough COVID patients to keep anesthesiologists working. The media keep reporting about hospitals being overrun with patients. Maybe on a given day, in a given city, at a given hospital. But generally not the case.

I'm sure that the crisis will pass and people will continue to get sick of other causes, and will continue to require surgeries and anesthesia. But don't underestimate the economic impact that this is having on medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, nurses' assistants, billing people, front desk staff, etc., many of whom are getting furloughed.

Obviously, the people in the medical community who are and will be needed for treating COVID-19 are mostly not the same people as who are needed for other types of cases. The latters' predicament is not all that different from the rest of us.

 

[nippurmagnum]

Obviously, the people in the medical community who are and will be needed for treating COVID-19 are mostly not the same people as who are needed for other types of cases. The latters' predicament is not all that different from the rest of us.

Anesthesiologists are essential to treating the most serious cases of COVID. And lots of them are being furloughed because there is not enough COVID work to go around.

 

[kmarks]

But is there any real way to avoid it? You either need a vaccine or you need people to develop an antibody immunity. Until that happens, I'm not sure there is any time period that is not "too soon".

It will take longer than giving everyone an efficacious vaccine, but it kind of will go away on its own if we keep up good social distancing. The virus can only persist by hopping from host to host, so if we break that chain and it has nowhere to replicate, it will disappear on its own. Kind of like how we don't need to give kids polio or smallpox vaccines anymore because we did such a good job with eradication efforts for both of those diseases. The only difference is that in this case, we are eradicating the virus by staying away from each other instead of getting a vaccine. That and the fact that people aren't staying away from each other to the degree that is needed to truly eradicate it.

 

[WetInPortland]

In a surprise to perhaps no one, businesses have asked that beer be declared essential. (Article in Spanish): SIPSE

 

[ggunn]

Anesthesiologists are essential to treating the most serious cases of COVID. And lots of them are being furloughed because there is not enough COVID work to go around.

That, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing; wouldn't you agree?