[BostonCard]

Another sign that things are reaching a breaking point:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...ed/617301/

The ratio of new hospitalizations to new diagnoses is going down.  That would be a good thing if the diagnoses are being made earlier or of patients with milder symptoms (because of increased testing), but as the article makes plain, that's not what is going on (as one can tell by observing that the case fatality rate is actually going up).  What is happening is that people who might have previously been admitted to the hospital are being turned away (or are deciding not to go to the hospital).

But ominous no longer fits what we’re observing in the data, because calamity is no longer imminent; it is here. The bulk of evidence now suggests that one of the worst fears of the pandemic—that hospitals would become overwhelmed, leading to needless deaths—is happening now. Americans are dying of COVID-19 who, had they gotten sick a month earlier, would have lived. This is such a searingly ugly idea that it is worth repeating: Americans are likely dying of COVID-19 now who would have survived had they gotten September’s level of medical care.

BC

[BostonCard]

Another sign that things are reaching a breaking point:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...ed/617301/

The ratio of new hospitalizations to new diagnoses is going down.  That would be a good thing if the diagnoses are being made earlier or of patients with milder symptoms (because of increased testing), but as the article makes plain, that's not what is going on (as one can tell by observing that the case fatality rate is actually going up).  What is happening is that people who might have previously been admitted to the hospital are being turned away (or are deciding not to go to the hospital).

But ominous no longer fits what we’re observing in the data, because calamity is no longer imminent; it is here. The bulk of evidence now suggests that one of the worst fears of the pandemic—that hospitals would become overwhelmed, leading to needless deaths—is happening now. Americans are dying of COVID-19 who, had they gotten sick a month earlier, would have lived. This is such a searingly ugly idea that it is worth repeating: Americans are likely dying of COVID-19 now who would have survived had they gotten September’s level of medical care.

BC