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U.S. Hospital Beds Were Already Maxed Out Before Coronavirus Pandemic
USNEWS ^ | March 26, 2020 | Dennis Thompson

Posted on 11/30/2020 12:46:12 PM PST by Vendome

Many hospitals across the United States regularly operate with most of their beds taken by patients, limiting their ability to handle a sudden influx of folks sick with COVID-19, a new study reports.

Only about 1 of every 3 U.S. hospital beds is empty on any given day, according to research from the Urban Institute, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"All indications show if the curve is not flattened, hospitals across the country will not have the capacity to deal with the surge in hospitalizations associated with COVID-19," said study author Fredric Blavin, a principal research associate with the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center.


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KEYWORDS: 2020; covid19; fraud; hospital; news
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And then nothing happened that was unusual for any other winter flu season.

The excess beds in tents were never used, anywhere in San Francisco Bay Area

I know.

I drive by them all the time and nothing

The fact of the matter is every year many hospitals fill to capacity, not all do.

1 posted on 11/30/2020 12:46:12 PM PST by Vendome
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To: Vendome

NYC had both the medical ship and Javits — completely underutilized.


2 posted on 11/30/2020 12:47:58 PM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Vendome

A far-left think tank wants more government money? Will wonders never cease?


3 posted on 11/30/2020 12:49:56 PM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Vendome

This is truth. Hospitals don’t stay in business by having floors full of empty beds. They are built to be nearly full, with some excess surge capacity. Nothing else would make sense from a business perspective.


4 posted on 11/30/2020 12:50:38 PM PST by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)
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To: Vendome

Of course they’re at the absolute minimum. Hospitals don’t increase absolute capacity in order for them to employ people to sit around.


5 posted on 11/30/2020 12:52:21 PM PST by Bayard
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To: Zhang Fei
A far-left think tank wants more government money?

Visit a hospital in a country with socialized medicine. They don't have waiting lists for basic procedures because their hospitals are too empty. They build the capacity they want to and not another bed, then they manage that capacity by deciding whose allowed to use them.

Proposing a government 'fix' to a non-problem is always a good way to ruin an industry and then 'save' it by taking it over though.

6 posted on 11/30/2020 12:52:51 PM PST by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)
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To: Vendome

Sigh. Most hospitals want to be as close to capacity as they can get while leaving room open for a few more.

They talk about it like it is a terrible situation. If you are at 75% capacity or less, you aren’t doing it right.


7 posted on 11/30/2020 12:53:19 PM PST by rlmorel ("I’d rather enjoy a risky freedom than a safe servitude." Robby Dinero, USMC Veteran, Gym Owner)
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To: Vendome

Curve has been flat since late May to early November.

I’m talking about deaths. Case curves mean nothing because they are positive PCR tests, not diagnosis of Covid-19, and is a function of total tests done.

The deaths do seem to be on an uptick.

Invariably specific localities drive such upticks.


8 posted on 11/30/2020 12:53:49 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Vendome; All

I hope that everyone is remembering that the Left had planned
to cut the number of doctors and hospitals in their grand plan
for government single payer health care.


9 posted on 11/30/2020 12:54:36 PM PST by DoughtyOne (I'm calling for terrorist and criminal reform. Defund them now!)
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To: pepsi_junkie

Absolutely correct. Empty beds generate no revenue. Empty hospitals go out of business.


10 posted on 11/30/2020 12:55:03 PM PST by Zeddicus
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To: Vendome

My wife is the Director of Case Management for two hospitals in our area. During the Pandemic she was the interim CNE for our local hospital as well. So I can only speak to what I know about things locally and I know more than the average bear in that regard.

The hospitals in our region were NOT full before the pandemic. The ICUs were not full before the pandemic. And the rate of death that we’re seeing in our local hospitals was greater in the first two weeks of November 2020 than they typically see in an entire month.

As of right now the ICUs in our county are at 80% capacity. 50% of the census is COVID. This isn’t normal for this time of year even if you leave COVID out of the conversation. These are incontrovertible facts.

That said - I am NOT for lockdowns in any form.


11 posted on 11/30/2020 12:57:37 PM PST by Frapster (Don't tread on me.)
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To: Vendome

There is a reason for hospital beds being full. Hospitals are required by law to take anyone even if they can’t pay. A single comitose illegal alien in St.
Pete bankrupted the hospital there. There was nothing they could do to get rid of the patient because a court ordered them to continue care. So, many hospitals began selling off space to doctors offices. The buildings are there but they have few beds. That way they can say they don’t have space and turn away some patients. To get in you have to be a paying patient admitted by one of the doctors who are buying space.

For every law there is an “unintended” consequence.


12 posted on 11/30/2020 12:58:09 PM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: Vendome

It makes since...why would they build a hospital that sets half full most of the time. I’m guessing hospitals are built to be at 80-90% capacity


13 posted on 11/30/2020 1:01:33 PM PST by ontap
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To: ifinnegan
Curve has been flat since late May to early November.

I’m talking about deaths. Case curves mean nothing because they are positive PCR tests, not diagnosis of Covid-19, and is a function of total tests done.

The deaths do seem to be on an uptick.

Flat during the time period that is not Cold and Flu season. Now we enter another Cold and Flu season, and deaths tick up.

I'm pretty sure that influenza and pneumonia are killing people and these are being marked down as COVID deaths.

14 posted on 11/30/2020 1:02:04 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: Vendome

If you visited family for Thanksgiving despite COVID-19, here’s what you need to do today!

Tony Bizjak The Sacramento Bee Nov 30, 2020 Updated 31 min a

COVID-19

Tony Bizjak: The Sacramento Bee:Health officials implored people not to gather over Thanksgiving with family, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that is crowding hospitals, leaving some understaffed. But hundreds of thousands of California residents did so anyway, saying the moment with family was precious enough to take the risk.

Now, those health officials have another request:

Anyone who gathered in a family setting this past weekend should assume for the moment that they have the virus. That means quarantining for 14 days. Call it penance for your indulgence, they say.

Health officials say they fear that Thanksgiving get-togethers have amplified the virus spread at a risky moment. The numbers of cases per day and hospitalizations in Sacramento and California have been shooting upward dramatically since Halloween.

But, they say, the damage can be mitigated to an extent if people who were with others over Thanksgiving now steer clear of others during the 14-day gestation period for the virus.

“We are very worried about a Thanksgiving bump,” Sacramento County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson said. “It is crucial to keep the surge down.”

People don’t necessarily need to take an immediate virus test because the test may not catch a gestating virus, misleading the person into thinking they are negative when they are in fact infected and asymptomatic.

Key steps, according to Yolo County Health Officer Aimee Sisson:

— Quarantine at home if you traveled, especially if you went to a place where COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, which is happening in much of California and the country.

— Don’t gather this week with coworkers.

— If you need groceries or food, get it delivered to your house.

— If you take a post-Thanksgiving virus test that comes in negative, it should not shorten the 14-day quarantine period, because the virus may not be immediately detectable.

— Don’t travel for the next holiday (i.e. Christmas).

Increasingly, officials say, the virus is being passed along among people ages 18-49, many of whom do not have symptoms or only mild symptoms, thus spread it unknowingly to others, some of whom are elderly and more susceptible to serious health problems from becoming infected.

The moment is critical, as well, health officials say, because hospitals are being hit with a record high number of COVID-19 cases. On Saturday, Sacramento County hospitals’ virus patient numbers jumped to a record 284, and on Sunday the number jumped again to 303 — a quadrupling of COVID-19 patient numbers in just six weeks.

Similarly, both California and the nation this weekend hit record highs of virus patients. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases official, on Sunday warned that the country is likely to see a surge on top of the existing case surge as more people gather indoors, against health advice, in groups this holiday season.


15 posted on 11/30/2020 1:02:20 PM PST by Grampa Dave (There was never a Biden win! It was stolen from Trump and us! When, will Biden Concede?)
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To: Vendome

You are correct on one half.

There were empty beds because all elective surgeries were stopped. Non emergency joint replacements stopped.

Most of the beds in our hospital (where I worked and where my wife still works) are what we called Med/Surg beds. Those beds are the most profitable beds. Those entire floors were shut down. Most of the beds were filled, but with mid level COVID patients.

So, the good news is that there was capacity—and those backed up elective surgeries are now filling the beds—but the hospitals lost millions in revenues that have cause staffing issues and logistical issues within the system.

Getting into the weeds on these stories is something most writers are simply not going to do.


16 posted on 11/30/2020 1:02:51 PM PST by Vermont Lt (We have entered "Insanity Week." Act accordingly.)
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To: Vendome
another problem is that "COVID19" does not exist. It is the name made up for a fictional pandemic based upon SARS COV2 which is the name of a CONDITION caused by the COV2 virus ( a nasty cold) which can cause S.A.R.S. in people with compromised immune systems.

Now COVID19 is known as any respiratory illness ranging from the common cold to Legionella infection.

it has stolen an election in the US for socialism and has turned us into a socially isolated germaphobic mask wearing culture

17 posted on 11/30/2020 1:03:05 PM PST by KTM rider (, Virus protection isn't just for your computer anymore, we gotta pay up and pay dearly)
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To: Zeddicus

Come on a America..and illegal inhabitants ..you can do it...get sick!...Eat lots of crap food and whatever you do don’t be active.
If you are not sick enough they will write you prescriptions for 15 or 20 different meds.
You won’t get any better but you will feel like you are in the Twighlight Zone.
And don’t forget to have lots of medical test done!
Let’s all pitch in and help the medical industry.
It’s that or else we will ship you off to a war with a 3rd world country you never heard of.


18 posted on 11/30/2020 1:03:20 PM PST by Leep (Save America. Lock down Joe Biden!)
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To: Grampa Dave

I know.

Everyone is a plague carrier...


19 posted on 11/30/2020 1:03:45 PM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: Frapster

those are incontrovertible facts

However, we experienced similar capacity problem in 2017-2018 H1N1 period

Sickness density goes up some years and goes way down other years.


20 posted on 11/30/2020 1:06:10 PM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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