Corona virus

[Hadez]

Things are always "okay" for people until they are not. Then, when the music hits the fan, they'll need help and expect first class health care services.

Oh - you want to go to a crowded bar without a mask or spacing out, pay $7 for a Coors Lite, live and socialize to be...... happy?

Oh - you're now at home, with a 103 degree fever, with congestion and chest tightness... can't seem to be moving much air? Oh I guess you need help now...

Oh - you're in the ER, waiting for a bed upstairs for admission due to the maxed out units - while hooked up to a BiPap machine because your breathing is quite labored...

Oh - 8hrs later, you finally made it to the ICU. But unfortunately, you decompensated so bad waiting for bed - that we had to sedate/paralyze, and intubate.

Oh - there's me standing over you. Adjusting your vent settings. Increasing your paralytic because you keep biting down on you're breathing tube. Flipping you prone, so the bottom of you lungs can deflate. Putting me, and everyone else at risk for your carelessness...


Yeah, people are always "fine" and "dandy", almost "invincible" until crap hits the fan...

Of all my friends and associates I know about 5 people who are "fine" and "dandy" right now. Everyone else is figuring out how to get by with reduced income or no job at all. Some have resorted to eating diets from foods as cheap as possible. Some have resorted to working 2 jobs which means almost no sleep.

So yea....not so great diet....not so great sleeping patterns....lot of stress from struggling to get by. VERY healthy for the immune system I am sure you agree.

One person who is pretty good money wise is a traveling nurse who has made a lot of money but has LOTS of horror stories about the complete lack of preparation going on around the country in for the 2nd wave.

Hospitals have known for 8 months there would be a 2nd wave in the fall...what have they been doing to get ready for the 2nd wave? People are struggling to live with their reduced wages that bought everyone time and flattened the curve....what has been done to take advantage of this sacrifice that was forced upon millions of people?

If there does get to be a severe lack of hospital resources I hope people turn their attention to the hospital industry and ask...why was so little done with the sacrifices to buy that industry 8 months to prepare.

[Hadez]

1) Are you folks watching the cases/hospitalizations/deaths of late?
2) Do you not think the situation is getting worse?
3) Do you think some folks are not helping?
4) I see the vaccine(s) as a major shift in this specific covid life, even if some smaller part of it stays around either because some do not want the vaccine or the virus changes or the vaccine is only temporary (which I doubt). I am talking significant shift in the right direction. It's possibly within just a few months. So in that regard, I suggest that folks honour their fellow man/woman/child, and make sure we minimize bad effects of what is going to likely happen for the next few months, with indoor activity/Thanksgiving/Christmas. Take care of yourself, and (I suggest) more responsibly, show respect for others.

Yes I do notice what is going on. I do believe it and I do wear a mask.

For every 1 person I know who is affected by Covid in some way (directly or family) there are over a 100 who are directly affected by the struggle to feed their family and pay rent. These are people who wear masks and social distance but honestly Covid is not their prime concern right now. They are more worried about feeding their family and keeping a roof over their head to be concerned about a virus they may or may not get.... or a vaccine that does or does not come out...and if the vaccine does come out they may or may not get get for months.

[Lumiere]

Yes I do notice what is going on. I do believe it and I do wear a mask.

For every 1 person I know who is affected by Covid in some way (directly or family) there are over a 100 who are directly affected by the struggle to feed their family and pay rent. These are people who wear masks and social distance but honestly Covid is not their prime concern right now. They are more worried about feeding their family and keeping a roof over their head to be concerned about a virus they may or may not get.... or a vaccine that does or does not come out...and if the vaccine does come out they may or may not get get for months.

It's much easier to take a lockdown stance when you're not the one getting financially ruined. But hey, selfishness.

Also, where was this outrage when millions were protesting in the streets? I guess folks forgot to be concerned??? Weird.

At any rate, hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

[EddieMac]

It's much easier to take a lockdown stance when you're not the one getting financially ruined. But hey, selfishness.

Also, where was this outrage when millions were protesting in the streets? I guess folks forgot to be concerned??? Weird.

At any rate, hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Couldn’t have said that better myself.

[CanDB]

Yes I do notice what is going on. I do believe it and I do wear a mask.

For every 1 person I know who is affected by Covid in some way (directly or family) there are over a 100 who are directly affected by the struggle to feed their family and pay rent. These are people who wear masks and social distance but honestly Covid is not their prime concern right now. They are more worried about feeding their family and keeping a roof over their head to be concerned about a virus they may or may not get.... or a vaccine that does or does not come out...and if the vaccine does come out they may or may not get get for months.

FTR....given it seems some here keep misinterpreting our concerns about being cautious and translating it as "lockdown mania", some of us are merely saying use common sense, wear masks, distance, wash, etc. Nowhere do I see much of the "lockdown" demands from us. I leave that up to the proper authorities. If they think an area is out of control, it's their call. Same with schools, care homes, etc. What some of us are definitely saying is, to those who don't respect the pandemic and it's evil side, or talk like it's not as bad as we think, or some version of, "I have nothing to worry about, because I'm young and healthy", that's when I, at least, get concerned.

Maybe you aren't saying it, but there's this lockdown fever that is aimed towards those who are very much concerned about the trending and the illness and the death. And maybe everyone you know is being cautious, and if so, that's cool. But lets not ever, ever think us cautious ones are folks who want people to be unemployed/suffering from financial despair.

But again, at some point, if a specific area is off the charts, there has to be some form of change so that a quicker recovery can occur. Especially when the hospitals and healthcare workers are overtaxed. For the sake of lives and our jobs and so on.

And yes, the vaccine possibilities are very promising to me, given all that this pandemic has done to most countries around the world.

[CanDB]

It's much easier to take a lockdown stance when you're not the one getting financially ruined. But hey, selfishness.

Also, where was this outrage when millions were protesting in the streets? I guess folks forgot to be concerned??? Weird.

At any rate, hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

This seems like a bit of a common theme, and so I ask, do you think some of us are into "lockdowns", or illegal/unhealthy protest activity? I am good with protesting if done correctly, given what's at stake. But can I ask you, are you good with rallies, many minus masks or any kind of distancing? Or that it was seemingly ok'd by certain folks? Just askin.

[Peerless]

Hospitals have known for 8 months there would be a 2nd wave in the fall...what have they been doing to get ready for the 2nd wave? People are struggling to live with their reduced wages that bought everyone time and flattened the curve....what has been done to take advantage of this sacrifice that was forced upon millions of people?.


If there does get to be a severe lack of hospital resources I hope people turn their attention to the hospital industry and ask...why was so little done with the sacrifices to buy that industry 8 months to prepare.

Hospitals knew there would be a second wave the minute this pandemic hit America and started to spread like a wildfire back in early spring.

You want to know what happened to my hospital, UW Madison? We decided to nix all elective and non-emergent cases. We decided to nix all outpatient and outpatient short stay surgeries. We sent health care workers - Nurses, physicians, anesthesia, aids, lab, RT, Radiology, etc either to COVID units / testing sites / or forced home with the ability to burn precious vacation time, or without pay. Did you read that? We literally forced workers to go home - to lose hours, benefits, money - because we had to prep for an influx of patients. "Sorry nurse Jackie, I know you've worked on this plastics/reconstructive unit for 25 years - but we're shutting your floor down. You can either go to COVID land, or go home by using your limited vacation hours, or go without pay." Thanks.....

The hospital (among many others) have lost so much money - that fiscally, no matter what we do - we will end up in the red in 2020. Long gone are the bonuses that we used to get. Pay raise? HA! See ya!!!!

Yeah, the health care industry BEGGED for people to follow the recommended guidelines to protect and prevent the spread of this virus. Wear a friggin' mask, spread out. We were able to RAMP up testing and could identify who carried the virus. We begged for those positive folks (especially asymptomatic) to stay home, away from the hospital - away from anyone to prevent the spread.

It worked - it worked for a while. Look at the charts, the numbers. We did flatten the curve. But people got bored, annoyed, fed up. They had to "live" and enjoy life, party, socialize, etc.

So yeah - people started to go out again, right before the winter when people just plainly get sick.

So what were we doing to get ready? We were begging and trying to educate self entitled Americans to take precautions - but as you can see now, it clearly didn't work.

Don't forget - ER's in America can't turn anyone away. We can teach, educate, nag, whatever... if people don't listen, they'll do whatever they want / get hurt or sick, and come to the ER for help. It's sorta like telling an obese man with high cholesterol, with a history of coronary artery disease - to stop being a dimwit and eat right, exercise, etc. But he decides he doesn't wanna... so big macs, whoppers, crunch wrap supremes it is. And then one day, he has a heart attack and comes into the ER in V-fib. Well, I guess now I'll try and save your life - even though I tried to educate you to prevent this exact moment from happening.

COVID is sorta like that....

You keep talking about how peoples lives are ruined. People are hurting financially, emotionally. They are depressed....

Uh hello ---- do you think, I'm not hurting? Do you think people working in hospitals are ENJOYING this, and not STRUGGLING? Do you think family life is all jolly-lolly>

Capacity, in terms of staffing, is probably the biggest challenge that hospitals are facing right now. Nurses, doctors, etc are working long hours / forced into overtime / forced into shifts they weren't scheduled to take care of these sick patients. As we're seeing rates of infections rise in the community, we're seeing infections in the hospital community as well.

If you start to lose your essential health care workers, then what? Who is going to take care of the ill? Can you imagine that? How awful.

More than 1,000 hospitals across the United States are "critically" short on staff, and that's just staffed COVID units. Don't forget, people still have traumas, heart attacks, strokes, etc. There is always need for ICU disposition (which is always tight), even before this pandemic.

But the many ICU units that used to house these types of patients, are overrun with COVID patients - and we're now in the process of converting other units into ICU units, but with a beaten down / and even poorly staffed nursing staff.

So I ask you - what has been done to take advantage of the sacrifice that was FORCED on the health care workers? Especially knowing that people weren't following recommended guidelines? Why should I put myself, my wife, my family at even greater risk when people who didn't follow rules KNEW what they should have done to protect themselves, and then decided not to anyway?

So you know, I take a little offense to your post about how "hospitals KNEW for 8 months this was gonna happen, why are they doing soooooo poorly or need so much help."

Forget you dude, you don't even have the slightest clue.

[CanDB]

Hospitals knew there would be a second wave the minute this pandemic hit America and started to spread like a wildfire back in early spring.

You want to know what happened to my hospital, UW Madison? We decided to nix all elective and non-emergent cases. We decided to nix all outpatient and outpatient short stay surgeries. We sent health care workers - Nurses, aids, lab, RT, Radiology, etc either to COVID units / testing sites / or forced home with the ability to burn precious vacation time, or without pay. Did you read that? We literally forced workers to go home - to lose hours, benefits, money - because we had to prep for an influx of patients. "Sorry nurse Jackie, I know you've worked on this plastics/reconstructive unit for 25 years - but we're shutting your floor down. You can either go to COVID land, or go home by using your limited vacation hours, or go without pay." Thanks.....

The hospital (among many others) have lost so much money - that fiscally, no matter what we do - we will end up in the red in 2020. Long gone are the bonuses that we used to get. Pay raise? HA! See ya!!!!

Yeah, the health care industry BEGGED for people to follow the recommended guidelines to protect and prevent the spread of this virus. Wear a friggin' mask, spread out. We were able to RAMP up testing and could identify who carried the virus. We begged for those positive folks to stay home, away from the hospital - away from anyone to prevent the spread.

It worked - it worked for a while. But people got bored, annoyed, fed up. They had to "live" and enjoy life, party, socialize, etc.

So yeah - people started to go out again, right before the winter when people just plainly get sick.

So what were we doing to get ready? We were begging and trying to educate self entitled Americans to take precautions - but as you can see now, it clearly didn't work.

Don't forget - ER's in America can't turn anyone away. We can teach, educate, nag, whatever... if people don't listen, they'll do whatever they want / get hurt or sick, and come to the ER for help. It's sorta like telling an obese man with high cholesterol, with a history of coronary artery disease - to stop being a dimwit and eat right, exercise, etc. But he decides he doesn't wanna... so big macs, whoppers, crunch wrap supremes it is. And then one day, he has a heart attack and comes into the ER in V-fib. Well, I guess now I'll try and save your life - even though I tried to educate you to prevent this exact moment from happening.

COVID is sorta like that....

You keep talking about how peoples lives are ruined. People are hurting financially, emotionally. They are depressed....

Uh hello ---- do you think, I'm not hurting? Do you think people working in hospitals are ENJOYING this, and not STRUGGLING?

Capacity, in terms of staffing, is probably the biggest challenge that hospitals are facing right now. Nurses, doctors, etc are working long hours / forced into overtime / forced into shifts they weren't scheduled to take care of these sick patients. As we're seeing rates of infections rise in the community, we're seeing infections in the hospital community as well.

More than 1,000 hospitals across the United States are "critically" short on staff, and that's just staff COVID units. Don't forget, people still have traumas, heart attacks, strokes, etc. There is always need for ICU disposition (which is always tight), even before this pandemic.

But the many ICU units that used to house these types of patients, are overrun with COVID patients - and we're now in the process of converting other units into ICU units, but with a beaten down / and even poorly staffed nursing staff.

So I ask you - what has been done to take advantage of the sacrifice that was FORCED on the health care workers? Especially knowing that people weren't following recommended guidelines? Why should I put myself, my wife, my family at even greater risk when people who didn't follow rules KNEW what they should have done to protect themselves, and then decided not to anyway?

So you know, I take a little offense to your post about how "hospitals KNEW for 8 months this was gonna happen, why are they doing soooooo poorly or need so much help."

Forget you dude, you don't even have the slightest clue.

Thx for that Brent. Sorry that it is so hard on you folks. You deserve much, much better.

[CanDB]

With The UK already vaccinating, today was an important one in The US and Canada, with the first people being vaccinated (as the death toll in The US soon reaches 300,000). Can't wait to get my shots, though it will be a while. And even though it takes 2 shots (with the current roll out), apparently there is a pretty high level of immunity after just one.

Officially turning the corner!

[jazzbodog]

With The UK already vaccinating, today was an important one in The US and Canada, with the first people being vaccinated (as the death toll in The US soon reaches 300,000). Can't wait to get my shots, though it will be a while. And even though it takes 2 shots (with the current roll out), apparently there is a pretty high level of immunity after just one.

Officially turning the corner!

to you Can! The human race is definitely turning the corner!

[CanDB]

to you Can! The human race is definitely turning the corner!

Given everything we knew earlier this year, we are pretty lucky that scientists/medical folks have delivered on a vaccine, given that these endeavours often take much longer.

[CanDB]

More good news, with a home test kit soon available that will provide quick at home results.

Sad news though, a friend of ours knows a healthy man of 40 who just passed away due to covid. So tragic.

[jazzbodog]

Given everything we knew earlier this year, we are pretty lucky that scientists/medical folks have delivered on a vaccine, given that these endeavours often take much longer.

So true! Just the other day I heard on the news by one of the excellent epidemiologists that if this Covid virus showed up in the USA 10 years ago it would have most likely been 6 or 7 years before we would have gotten a vaccine for it. This shows how much vaccine technology has progressed in one decade. Too Cool!

[Peerless]

Got my vaccine yesterday! Feelin' fine 16hrs after the shot.

[CanDB]

Got my vaccine yesterday! Feelin' fine 16hrs after the shot.

Right on bud!!!