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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
I’ve worked the coronavirus front line — and I say it’s time to start opening up
Tuesday, April 28, 2020 7:53 PM
6IXSTRINGJACK
Quote:First, the wave has crested. At 1 p.m. April 7, the COVID-19 arrivals slowed down. It was a discrete, noticeable event. Stretchers became available by 5 p.m., and the number of arriving COVID-19 patients dropped below the number discharged, transferred or deceased. This was striking, because the community I serve is poor. Some are homeless. Most work in “essential,” low-paying jobs, where distancing isn’t easy. Nevertheless, the wave passed over us, peaked and subsided. The way this transpired tells me the ebb and flow had more to do with the natural course of the outbreak than it did with the lockdown. Second, I worry about non-coronavirus care. While the inpatient units remain busy with sick COVID-19 patients, our ER has been quiet for more than a week. We usually average 240 patients a day. For the last week, we averaged fewer than 100. That means our patients in this diverse, low-income community are afraid to come to the ER for non-COVID care. Gotham-wide, the number of 911 ambulance runs declined to 3,320 on April 18, down from a peak of 6,527 on March 30, according to New York Fire Department data. The current nadir is significantly below the average. A large share of those staying home surely have emergency medical and surgical conditions not related to the novel coronavirus. The growing numbers dying at home during this crisis must include fatal myocardial infarctions, asthma exacerbations, bacterial infections and strokes. Meanwhile, our pediatric volume in the ER has practically disappeared. Visits to primary-care pediatricians are also down, with vaccine schedules falling behind. Everyone seems to be avoiding the health system — an important and unfortunate consequence of the stay-at-home strategy. Third, inordinate fear misguides the public response. While COVID-19 is serious, fear of it is being over-amplified. The public needs to understand that the vast majority of infected people do quite well. Finally, COVID-19 is more prevalent than we think. Many New Yorkers already have the COVID-19 infection, whether they are aware of it or not. As of today, over 43 percent of those tested are positive in The Bronx. We are developing a significant degree of natural herd immunity. Distancing works, but I am skeptical that it is playing as predominant a role as many think.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020 9:15 PM
1KIKI
Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 7:54 AM
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 11:07 AM
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 12:07 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Opening sentence: "I’m an emergency physician at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx ..." in NYC. "I have been in the ER every day these last few weeks ..." in NYC. "COVID-19 has been the worst health care disaster of my 30-year career ..." in NYC. "From mid-March through mid-April, the ER staff at St. Barnabas ... " in NYC. "Then came the wave of critically ill patients in numbers none of us had ever seen. This lasted for two weeks ..." in NYC. "First, the wave has crested ..." in NYC. "Gotham-wide, the number of 911 ambulance runs declined to 3,320 on April 18, down from a peak of 6,527 on March 30, according to New York Fire Department data ... " in NYC. "Visits to primary-care pediatricians are also down ..." in NYC. ... and so on. EVERYTHING he writes about happened IN NYC. EVERYTHING he's concerned about is true of NYC. Is he writing about Atlanta, Georgia? Miami, Florida? Portland, Oregon? No. He has no clue about what's going on in those cities or anywhere else. The question is - why do YOU want to apply his writings to anywhere else? Especially since you haven't shown how his observations are true anywhere else.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 12:46 PM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:28 PM
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 9:11 PM
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 9:38 PM
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 9:41 PM
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 9:51 PM
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 10:03 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Meh. All your froth about everywhere BUT NYC doesn't change the fact HE was referring to NYC.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 10:18 PM
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 11:51 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: You don't have any credibility on this topic. Your perspective is warped because you can live just fine hunkering down and not giving a shit where your next meal is coming from. You've got it covered. You're perfectly a-okay wearing blinders and focusing on nothing but the virus. Must be nice. Do Right, Be Right. :)
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 11:53 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: There's not one single example in the letter that indicates he's talking abut the entire country.
Quote:Testing is important work, but it should happen in parallel to the immediate resuscitation of the economy and getting people back to work. At present, the testing is imperfect. We can’t wait months. We must protect the vulnerable and mitigate without destroying the economy. Standing up to this virus can’t be the job of essential workers only. We’ve been strong, but we’re tired, and we need the rest of you to help us. By getting back to work.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 11:56 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: You don't have any credibility on this topic. Your perspective is warped because you can live just fine hunkering down and not giving a shit where your next meal is coming from. You've got it covered. You're perfectly a-okay wearing blinders and focusing on nothing but the virus. Must be nice. Do Right, Be Right. :) Oh boo hoo. Spare me the crocodile tears, SIX. You can't possibly think that anyone here believes that you're worried about people when you've posted prolly a dozen times that you'd like to see the old and "weak" die, and you wouldn't think Covid-19 was a problem until almost one out of three Americans died. So stop spewing your hypocrisy here for all to see. HOW can we get thru this time in better shape? Well, farmers are plowing under crops, dumping milk, and euthanizing animals. Meanwhile, food banks are begging for food? Why to we have this disconnect? Is it because the Fed and the WH are focusing all of their $$$ on saving the asses of the bankers, hedge fund managers, and rich greedy oilmen? And OF COURSE, we have to somehow open up the economy again, the question is: HOW? HOW can we start working and producing again without HAVING to risk death, or bringing it home to your family? You won't even consider mask-wearing, which shows your TRUE motives more than anything else: You want people to die. I don't know why you're so twisted on this topic. I said that you really should clarify FOR YOURSELF what your goals are. You want people to die, seems to be your main goal. Maybe you're aiming for some genetic cleansing. Maybe you just want the old folks - who you seem to resent- to pop off. Prove me wrong. And I hope to god nobody that you know takes any of your advice on the topic, because you're clearly irresponsible. ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK
Thursday, April 30, 2020 12:18 AM
Quote: SIGNY: Oh boo hoo. Spare me the crocodile tears, SIX. You can't possibly think that anyone here believes that you're worried about people when you've posted prolly a dozen times that you'd like to see the old and "weak" die, and you wouldn't think Covid-19 was a problem until almost one out of three Americans died. So stop spewing your hypocrisy here for all to see. HOW can we get thru this time in better shape? Well, farmers are plowing under crops, dumping milk, and euthanizing animals. Meanwhile, food banks are begging for food? Why to we have this disconnect? Is it because the Fed and the WH are focusing all of their $$$ on saving the asses of the bankers, hedge fund managers, and rich greedy oilmen? And OF COURSE, we have to somehow open up the economy again, the question is: HOW? HOW can we start working and producing again without HAVING to risk death, or bringing it home to your family? You won't even consider mask-wearing, which shows your TRUE motives more than anything else: You want people to die. I don't know why you're so twisted on this topic. I said that you really should clarify FOR YOURSELF what your goals are. You want people to die, seems to be your main goal. Maybe you're aiming for some genetic cleansing. Maybe you just want the old folks - who you seem to resent- to pop off. Prove me wrong. And I hope to god nobody that you know takes any of your advice on the topic, because you're clearly irresponsible. SIX: There's no tears here. I'm not advocating for anybody other than myself. I'm not going to be the one to throw the first stone in the revolution either since I know where my next meal is coming from. I'm just stating the facts. People aren't on board with your little shutdown.
Quote:As more time goes by, less and less people will be on board and they're not going to sit back and behave like you want them to.
Quote:You are irresponsible. With money and other peoples' livelihood. Enjoy your retirement. Nobody but the 1%rs after your generation will.
Quote:And they certainly won't be able to afford to #STAYTHEFUCKHOME like you are now when there is something truly serious that pops up and isn't just a cold.
Thursday, April 30, 2020 1:26 AM
Quote:JACK: Standing up to this virus can’t be the job of essential workers only. We’ve been strong, but we’re tired, and we need the rest of you to help us. By getting back to work.
Thursday, April 30, 2020 1:27 AM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Quote:JACK: Standing up to this virus can’t be the job of essential workers only. We’ve been strong, but we’re tired, and we need the rest of you to help us. By getting back to work. OF COURSE he's talking about NYC. So you think the essential workers in DENVER are tired? Or Boise? Maybe Tuscaloosa? What would they be tired from, anyway?
Thursday, April 30, 2020 1:32 AM
Thursday, April 30, 2020 2:18 AM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Start keeling over "again"? It hasn't happened yet. Do Right, Be Right. :)
Thursday, April 30, 2020 12:07 PM
Quote:The great irony of our (nearly) nationwide lockdown is that measures taken to protect us may actually be harming the nation’s public health. In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that health care providers postpone “elective” procedures to free up resources to treat coronavirus patients. Governors have also ordered doctors to reschedule “non-essential” appointments. Many doctors have advised patients with serious illnesses to forgo taking immunity suppressing drugs for fear that they might contract COVID-19. And the sanctimonious “listen to the experts” crowd will shout down anyone who dares to question the prevailing “stay home” wisdom. But I know from personal experience how important it is to address medical problems quickly before they get worse. Thousands or perhaps even millions of Americans have untreated and undiagnosed medical conditions right now that aren’t being addressed because of our singular focus on mitigating COVID-19. The former chief of neuroradiology at the Stanford University Medical Center wrote a recent op-ed in The Hill warning that “critical health care for millions of Americans is being ignored and people are dying to accommodate ‘potential’ COVID-19 patients and for fear of spreading the disease.” And the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic told The New York Times that they’ve seen a “dramatic decline in people seeking care for heart attacks, strokes, or new cancers.” Meanwhile, New York City has more fatalities than 41 states combined and, as of April 29, 20 states had fewer than 200 COVID-19 deaths and seven others had fewer than 300. Yet in most of these states where coronavirus has taken a more modest death toll, many hospitals are like ghost towns. Even once our policymakers give us the green light to see our doctors again, some, perhaps many, Americans will be afraid to return to hospitals and clinics, while others may find long delays as clinics struggle to cope with appointment backlogs. And what about the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and their health insurance and can’t afford to address their medical problems?
Thursday, April 30, 2020 12:31 PM
Thursday, April 30, 2020 1:24 PM
Friday, May 1, 2020 3:23 AM
WISHIMAY
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Why is food rotting in the fields? Because the "supply chain" is broken? Then where is the national guard, or the army, arranging for transport? Where are all of those masks that are required to keep people safe so they can go back to work? Where is that health insurance that would let people be tested for Covid without being stuck with a crippling medical bill, much less treated in hospital? Where are the banks with loan moratoria, and low-cost recovery loans? Instead, there's you: bitching and whining and carrying on like a two-year-old and fingerpointing at people who didn't start the problem and aren't making it worse.
Friday, May 1, 2020 6:46 AM
Friday, May 1, 2020 12:24 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: The problem, WISHY, is that "we" are definitely NOT all in this together. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is weaponizing this pandemic for their own "tribe". So it becomes the young v the old. Midwesterners v bicoastals. Democrats v Republicans. Women v men. (Gee, who was pushing THAT meme? And you're doing it AGAIN. Instead of trying to figure out how to unite people, there you are: driving people apart.)
Friday, May 1, 2020 1:04 PM
Friday, May 1, 2020 4:00 PM
Friday, May 1, 2020 6:59 PM
SECOND
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: SECOND thinks it was republicans that made the entire planet the way it is. Nobody here has the power to do any of that, though SECOND - according to his accounts - comes closest. Nobody here owns the global company town we're all living in, or makes its rules. No one generation does, no one country, and no one political party.
Friday, May 1, 2020 8:35 PM
Friday, May 1, 2020 9:08 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Why are your responses always so apocalyptic and fatal? Either you're support the way things are or you fight a revolution! Either your boss is decent or you shoot him!
Friday, May 1, 2020 9:18 PM
Quote:Originally posted by second: The Democrats don't want that fight to the death, and are afraid of it, but that's what it is going to take to change the Republican Party.
Friday, May 1, 2020 9:24 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Who knows what WISHI thinks, hers is the flying fickle finger of blame that acts like a weathervane.
Friday, May 1, 2020 9:28 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: WE BELONG TO THE SAME TRIBE, WISHY. IT'S CALLED "AMERICAN".
Friday, May 1, 2020 9:46 PM
Friday, May 1, 2020 9:57 PM
Quote:Originally posted by WISHIMAY: Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Who knows what WISHI thinks, hers is the flying fickle finger of blame that acts like a weathervane. 1. People who are violent without reason 2. People who refuse to learn from history 3. People that think being helpful is "faking political correctness" Whaddayah know....Rethugs fit all those pretty well...
Friday, May 1, 2020 9:58 PM
Quote:All of us American, all of us with SEPARATE AGENDAS....Like every other country on the planet.
Friday, May 1, 2020 10:20 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SECOND: ... I did not take half measures, like ordinary people do, assuming that the worst can't happen. I have seen the worst happen several times in war and peace. I have stood on the edge of craters where there had been refineries or where bombs from B-52s fell thanks to Nixon.
Friday, May 1, 2020 10:37 PM
Quote:Originally posted by WISHI: 1. People who are violent without reason 2. People who refuse to learn from history 3. People that think being helpful is "faking political correctness" Whaddayah know....Rethugs fit all those pretty well...
Saturday, May 2, 2020 1:11 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: And yet, we all have something in common. I wonder what that could be ...
Saturday, May 2, 2020 1:22 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Let me just bring up your post about being willing to kill everyone but 100 people on the planet in order to 'save' them from ... I forget ... communism or fascism or something you latched onto that day. Not only did you post it, you quadrupled down on it and also made it part of your sign-off for a while.
Saturday, May 2, 2020 2:13 PM
Quote:Originally posted by WISHIMAY: And it 100% made my point
Quote:that you now understand ...
Quote: ... how far intelligent people would be willing to go to save the planet ...
Quote: ... and the species from the pain and slavery of fascism. Because Fascism HAS NO OTHER OUTCOME.
Quote: If aliens showed up and enslaved the planet something tells me YOU'D HELP!
Quote: What kind of NUT wants the planet to be a gulag??
Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:37 PM
Quote:Originally posted by WISHIMAY: Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: And yet, we all have something in common. I wonder what that could be ... That we're ugly bags of mostly water??
Sunday, May 3, 2020 3:11 AM
Sunday, May 3, 2020 3:20 PM
Quote:SIGNYM:And yet, we all have something in common. I wonder what that could be ... WISHY: That we're ugly bags of mostly water??
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