Posted on 05/14/2020 4:40:49 PM PDT by Outlaw76
Like most, I’ve been working from my home for over two months now. At first it made sense due to the uncertainty involved with the Covid-19 virus. Back in Mid-March we were looking at data from China that was suspect, massive deaths in Italy and a virus that spread in such an insidious way that it would be nearly impossible to prevent it’s spread without drastic actions. We were looking at hospitals being overwhelmed and with too few beds to take care of the ill. It was a pretty scary time.
By Mid-April we knew that the virus was most deadly to people over the age of 65 with diabetes, COPD, heart disease, etc.. We knew that it rarely caused death or major damage in people under the age of 60. When we looked at people under the age of 50 we saw that it was extremely rare for people to require hospitalization at all and we were beginning to see that most people who get the virus are asymptomatic. Yet, we continued to use the same approach that we used in Mid-March. Even with the knowledge we had gained over the intervening month there were governors and mayors that put out directives for infected seniors to be placed in nursing homes. Directed that we put people infected with the virus among those who were most susceptible to death from the virus.
It's now Mid-May.
Our hospitals are nearly vacant. Technicians, Nurses, and Doctors have been and continue to be laid off, furloughed, or otherwise let go. Clinics stand empty. Fewer people are receiving preventative medical care. Almost no one is receiving ‘elective’ care. Hospitals are losing money at a rate that is mind blowing. One local hospital is losing more than a 2.5 million dollars a day a month. If this continues, the hospital will become insolvent. That medical care they used to provide may not return.
I try to reconcile the fact that we were so worried about overwhelming the hospitals that we put them in a situation where they can’t remain open. We have put institutions with hundreds of beds in a position where they aren’t allowed to handle anything other than emergencies and critical care. Right now there are people with medical devices inside them that should have been removed months ago, people with bone on bone arthritis using opioids for an extended period of time because the knee replacement, hip replacement etc… is on hold because the surgery they need is considered elective.
I try to reconcile the fact that the people we call our heroes in this time of crisis are struggling to make ends meet because their jobs are not important enough… because their patients aren’t sick with the right thing… I’m getting sick writing this. Having seen it first hand, it breaks my heart.
Our basic needs for living are being affected beyond healthcare. The industries that provide us with the food that fuels are daily lives are breaking under the strain of current restrictions. Restaurants now vacant for two months don’t order the milk, the bread, the meat that we used to eat on their tables. Deliveries aren’t being made. The food preparation industry is struggling to find ways to keep the doors open. Farmers who work with animals are in trouble. Waiters, waitresses, cooks, chefs, drivers, inspectors, maintenance men, multitudes of productive and important people are sitting at home collecting unemployment. There are so many more examples, but these two touch me the most as I’ve been involved with both industries and know the people directly affected. What makes it so much worse is that most of these people are not now and have not ever been in danger from this virus. ‘For their safety’ their lives and livelihoods are being destroyed. The contradiction is one of many.
When I can’t reconcile reality with policy I start to ask why. Why are we not adjusting policy continuously as we gather more data? The slow roll for re-opening is a nice start but it’s something we could have come up with back in March. It’s not something that reflects what we know now. Take care of the sick, protect the vulnerable, free those least likely to be impacted so they can keep the wheels turning. That should be the motto and the creed until this passes. Instead, we are following flawed pseudo-scientific models and recommendations by a vocal doctor who often contradicts himself. We look at data that either doesn’t matter (number of new cases), or has been corrupted by stupidity, greed, and idiocy (died with, not from, the coronavirus). Data this badly tainted should be re-examined if it’s useful and stored for analysis when it’s not.
How can I say the number of new cases is irrelevant? We are testing more people than ever. Understand that when you get 75 out of 100 tested who show symptoms, that’s significant. When you get 75 out of 1000 who were tested because they wanted to be tested or may have been in contact with someone who was positive, you are looking at different data samples. At that point you have to ask, are all 75 positives symptomatic? As stated before, we know who is at risk for decreased mortality, need for hospitalization and likely to need a ventilator now. So, does it even matter which of the positives are symptomatic now? Other than giving us a closer apples to apples match for the early days of testing, it’s not actionable data. Prisons are hotbeds of Covid-19 co-contamination. Turns out the prisoners share it on purpose. Most don’t show a symptom, few require hospitalization and even fewer die. They share it so they can get out.
How can I say that the number who died with the virus isn’t useful? Other than putting scary numbers up on the TV news nightly, it isn’t. The problem here starts with how we count those who died from Covid-19. Right now, we count anyone who died and tested positive with the virus as a Covid-19 death. If Epstein was still kicking when the virus hit it’s very likely he would have been counted as a Covid-19 death. Covid-19 didn’t kill him and he didn’t commit suicide. We also have situations in several states where the Governors and Mayors have inflated the number of dead through, and I’m being generous here, gross stupidity. If I told you that a virus killed new born children, would you put people sick with the virus in a nursery? Would you do that with any illness? In a mind-blowingly stupid move these people have done just that with nursing homes and our elderly. Sick with Corona? Go to a nursing home. You can see the effect of these directives in New York City amongst others. The death toll only reinforces the need to protect the vulnerable.
I stated previously that when I can’t reconcile reality with policy I ask why. I’m not the smartest guy around. I’m not the only person thinking in this manner. Why are we continuing to act like it’s mid-March and we don’t know the threat we are facing? I can’t point fingers and I won’t ascribe blame. I truly feel like in the beginning most people were just trying to do the right thing. I think certain decision makers are restrained to following recommendations that aren’t so wholesome.
In the coming months I expect hospitals to fail and close. I expect smart people who used to work in the medical profession to move on to other opportunities and an increased likelihood for a nursing and physician shortage. The system is being broken. Though I fight against the thought I can’t stop thinking that it is being done purposefully. What is going on now is the start of a renewed push for socialized medicine. Without a doubt it’s the start of a new campaign for socialism in general. You can see the start of it in the most recent house bill. We’ll see it this full strength this fall and likely sooner. The very people responsible for purposefully putting the virus in nursing homes will be the ones telling you how they can fix things.
This is being used as a tool to destroy liberty.
Take care of the sick, protect the vulnerable, free those least likely to be impacted so they can keep the wheels turning.
The biggest obstacle is the media and democrats which has a lot of people in the fetal position sucking their thumbs.
Nice write up
The greatest tool of the democrats is deception.
” that we put them in a situation where they can’t remain open. “
That is baffling. Seems like they could allow some elective surgeries, etc.
“Like most,”?
Is that true?
By the time one adds the idled to the kids, the retired, the homeless, those on welfare and disability and likely other categories, “most” seems like a lie.
Yes it is.
Now doctors and nurses can study to be lawyers.
:-/
Or they could learn to code. /s
The lockdown was never about the disease.
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