Trump's former pandemic adviser: 'We are 10 days from our hospitals getting creamed'

Theweek.com ^ | March 10, 2020 | Tim O'Donnell -WaPOS

[Red Badger]

Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus are swiftly ballooning across the United States, and President Trump's former Homeland Security Adviser Thomas Bossert says time is running out to control the spread.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who is overseeing one of the country's largest clusters, said "if you do the math" there could be 64,000 cases of COVID-19 in the Evergreen State by May, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the positive cases in the city are "coming in so intensely now" that public officials are struggling to keep up with them. He said he wasn't in a position to give the media a "detailed case breakdown" because of the rapidly changing number.

That seems to lend credence to Bossert's claim Tuesday that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed.

Bossert, who in his old position coordinated the U.S. response to global pandemics (he was not replaced by Trump, who made cuts to national security), wrote an op-ed published Monday by The Washington Post saying the U.S. should take notes from places like Hong Kong and Singapore, which were able to level off their infection rate thanks to tougher measures early on.

[Capt. Tom]

The only reason a hospital would get creamed is if the media panics everyone with a sniffle to rush to the hospital instead of calling their doctor - this is a crime.

I told my son at breakfast Sunday I have had the sniffles for 4 months and believe it is caused by my faithfully taking my many medications this winter.

Then my son said they changed his medications a year ago and he has had sniffles for the last year.-Tom

[Artcore]

Sorry about that, but most are.

So, are you saying COVID-19 is going to take your life? Are you currently in a medical facility?

[xkaydet65]

I fully agree, but most here do not.

[SaxxonWoods]

No one is going to save you, especially the govt.

Constant yammering about it does nothing either.

[Lazamataz]

Sorry about that, but most are.

I'm going to die. This virus is especially deadly to people named Laz A. Mataz.

So, are you saying COVID-19 is going to take your life?

Yes.

Are you currently in a medical facility?

Mental, yes. Medical, no.

[Bob434]

[[There are 46 cases in NYC and public “officials” are struggling to keep up.]]

Yeah, but the reason they are struggling is because they have to try to track down every single person these infected people had contact with- it’s a nightmare scenario really- they will never be able to track everyone down- and for every person they miss- that got the flu, those folks will infect others, and so on and so forth- there is no containing this or any virus for that matter-

I think probably they also have to bring in cleaning crews to sterilize the places these folks live- etc- not sure if they do this- but probably-

[1Old Pro]

LOL, I thought the saying was, first do no harm.

[BushCountry]

Last quarter:

49,000,000 people caught the flu.
23,000,000 people visited the doctor
620,000 people hospitalized
52,000 deaths

In the chart below, notice the steep drop-off of cases? Guess what this will happen for the Coronavirus. Giving plenty of time to develop and test cures with a vaccine close behind (most think it will be less than a year because of the money and push by Government).

It silly think a few thousand Coranavirus hospital cases is going to over run the system. When 620,000 people a year are hospitalized because of the flu.

[Bob434]

[[So what happens is Doctors start having to make triage decisions like, do you give the ventilator to the 85 year old who has a low chance of recovery regardless. Or the 57 year old?]]

Yep- death panels at work really- (Note- that is ONLY IF they run low on equipment to treat everyone- they will have to make decisions on who to treat- of course if there are enough to go around- everyone will get treated-)

[Bob434]

[[this is popping up all over in disparate places?

Logically explainable, of course, but is it really?]]

Yes- easy explanation- mass transit-

[AU72]

I read that there on any given day about 330,000 IC beds available in the country.

Three years ago, this month, my BIL came down with the flu and was directed to check-in to a hospital but there were no IC beds available that day in Massachusetts nor RI because of the flu. He was able to check in 12 hours later but it was too late for him and he died another 12 hours later.

I fear a run on the hospitals will cause triage of patients prioritizing who gets the bed.

[SPRINK]

I’ll bet a million dollars we aren’t overwhelmed in 2 weeks....will the number of cases expand greatly? yea but it will all be handled fairly easily

[fightin kentuckian]

“The Week” is an off shoot of “Esquire” Magazine and both publications hate Trump and conservatives with a purple passion. And it shows in articles like this one.

[SaxxonWoods]

“Slowing the SPREAD of the outbreak IS KEY to saving lives.”

You are the only one who understands this. Keep up the great work.

[sauropod]

.

[Biggirl]

That is why I hope for a warm spring. Light and warmth are the best disinfectant.

[Bob434]

[[49,000,000 people caught the flu.
23,000,000 people visited the doctor
620,000 people hospitalized
52,000 deaths]]

Don’t forget though- those numbers came over a full flu season- with the coronavirus, it’s just beginning- the numbers are goign to jump rapidly when it hits it’s peak- but you’re right- it will dip rapidly too once vaccines get going- until then we shoudl do what we can to try to detain it as best as possible-

[DannyTN]

I read that there are somewhere between 62,000 and 110,000 ventilators. And that ECMO machines (blood oxygenator) are rare with only 264 hospitals offering them

[Biggirl]

This is a common cold virus on steroids.

[FreedomForce]

I think that’s already what’s happening in northern italy. I was looking at icu capacity for various countries(2012 data). Italy wasn’t listed but Germany had the most icu beds with respect to their population. That may be part of the reason why Germany is doing so well with their death rate. USA was ranked pretty high, too. Some later data i was looking at showed South Korea and Japan to have the most overall hospital beds per population. USA didn’t rate too well for overall beds.