12-18-2020, 08:44 PM
Most of the ICU patients are in their 50s to 70s. Some in the 80s. The older ones don't last long if they are real sick. Younger folks tend to have more reserve.
(12-18-2020, 08:39 PM)teejers1 Wrote:(12-17-2020, 08:45 PM)dabigv13 Wrote: LTCF patients may be 40% of the fatalities, but they are a much smaller portion of the ICU cases. Getting them vaccinated will be helpful but we'd still be stretched even if they all already had their shots.
That seems counterintuitive to me - is it because LTCF patients just go from regular hospital bed to the morgue (and skip ICUs altogether)? Or that they never make it to ICUs in the first place and perish at home?
BTW, front page story in Merc today about ridiculous spike in LTCF cases across the state, and identifying some pretty head-shaking numbers at some SCC facilities. It's like for 7 months (after some early gaffes revealed the extreme vulnerability of senior folks) the state (and SCC in particular) did pretty well in containing LTCF cases . . . and then the dam broke. Strange.
(12-18-2020, 08:39 PM)teejers1 Wrote:(12-17-2020, 08:45 PM)dabigv13 Wrote: LTCF patients may be 40% of the fatalities, but they are a much smaller portion of the ICU cases. Getting them vaccinated will be helpful but we'd still be stretched even if they all already had their shots.
That seems counterintuitive to me - is it because LTCF patients just go from regular hospital bed to the morgue (and skip ICUs altogether)? Or that they never make it to ICUs in the first place and perish at home?
BTW, front page story in Merc today about ridiculous spike in LTCF cases across the state, and identifying some pretty head-shaking numbers at some SCC facilities. It's like for 7 months (after some early gaffes revealed the extreme vulnerability of senior folks) the state (and SCC in particular) did pretty well in containing LTCF cases . . . and then the dam broke. Strange.
(12-19-2020, 10:34 AM)dabigv13 Wrote: https://www.latimes.com/california/story...-rationingAnd yet LA County is not fully SIP. Granted, it will take a week to 10 days for this to help, but given the current situation how can delaying such a step make any sense? If the county fears people just won't do it, ask Newsom to call out the National Guard to enforce it.
This is the situation in LA. And yet the traffic on my way to the hospital is about the same as before the pandemic. Going to be worse than NYC or Italy was in about a week and stay that way for a while, if we are fortunate. If we don't level off soon this will be an unprecedented collapse of the healthcare system in an American city. Really not looking forward to what I'm going to be seeing the next few weeks in the ICU. To ask these nurses and respiratory therapists and doctors who are already at their limit trying to help as many as possible, to be asked for the first time ever in their careers to ration care and take people off therapies...it's really so heartbreaking and infuriating.
(12-19-2020, 10:34 AM)dabigv13 Wrote: https://www.latimes.com/california/story...-rationingAnd yet LA County is not fully SIP. Granted, it will take a week to 10 days for this to help, but given the current situation how can delaying such a step make any sense? If the county fears people just won't do it, ask Newsom to call out the National Guard to enforce it.
This is the situation in LA. And yet the traffic on my way to the hospital is about the same as before the pandemic. Going to be worse than NYC or Italy was in about a week and stay that way for a while, if we are fortunate. If we don't level off soon this will be an unprecedented collapse of the healthcare system in an American city. Really not looking forward to what I'm going to be seeing the next few weeks in the ICU. To ask these nurses and respiratory therapists and doctors who are already at their limit trying to help as many as possible, to be asked for the first time ever in their careers to ration care and take people off therapies...it's really so heartbreaking and infuriating.
Quote:The coronavirus surge was going to kill her.
And she didn’t even have COVID-19.
She had woken up in a pool of blood earlier that day, so Billy had rushed her to Hi-Desert. The facility didn’t have the equipment to take care of Kim, he said. So the attending doctor began to call hospitals across the Inland Empire to see if Kim could be transferred to them.
None could accept her. They were swamped with COVID-19 cases
Everywhere, too full.
“The nurses were extremely distraught, and I’ve never seen them that way,” Billy told me five days later. “The doctor was getting frustrated.”
That’s when Billy volunteered to take Kim in his truck, strap on some off-road lights, and speed down California Route 62 toward Interstate 10. The plan: “get pulled over by police so we could get an escort” to the nearest hospital.
But that Hail Mary never came to pass. Shortly after their phone conversation, Kim’s health quickly deteriorated. She died at age 60, in the arms of Billy and her son.
...........
I asked him what he wanted people to take from Kim’s death. His eyes watered, but his voice was firm.
“I hope they learn,” he said, “that her last days were chaos.”
Quote:The coronavirus surge was going to kill her.
And she didn’t even have COVID-19.
She had woken up in a pool of blood earlier that day, so Billy had rushed her to Hi-Desert. The facility didn’t have the equipment to take care of Kim, he said. So the attending doctor began to call hospitals across the Inland Empire to see if Kim could be transferred to them.
None could accept her. They were swamped with COVID-19 cases
Everywhere, too full.
“The nurses were extremely distraught, and I’ve never seen them that way,” Billy told me five days later. “The doctor was getting frustrated.”
That’s when Billy volunteered to take Kim in his truck, strap on some off-road lights, and speed down California Route 62 toward Interstate 10. The plan: “get pulled over by police so we could get an escort” to the nearest hospital.
But that Hail Mary never came to pass. Shortly after their phone conversation, Kim’s health quickly deteriorated. She died at age 60, in the arms of Billy and her son.
...........
I asked him what he wanted people to take from Kim’s death. His eyes watered, but his voice was firm.
“I hope they learn,” he said, “that her last days were chaos.”
(12-20-2020, 04:19 PM)magnus Wrote: I am hearing stories out of Texas with similar inability to treat or transfer leading to death.Texas is a large state; I mostly only track Houston. Texas Medical Center (a number of hospitals in Houston) is reporting 100% of phase 1 ICU capacity filled = 83% of phase 2 ICU capacity = 64% of phase 3 ICU capacity. 359 COVID in ICU of 1412 in ICU.
Very tragic.
(12-20-2020, 04:19 PM)magnus Wrote: I am hearing stories out of Texas with similar inability to treat or transfer leading to death.Texas is a large state; I mostly only track Houston. Texas Medical Center (a number of hospitals in Houston) is reporting 100% of phase 1 ICU capacity filled = 83% of phase 2 ICU capacity = 64% of phase 3 ICU capacity. 359 COVID in ICU of 1412 in ICU.
Very tragic.
Quote:As businesses struggle during what should be a very busy holiday shopping season, many hospitals are preparing for the possibility of rationing care. A document recently circulated among doctors at the four hospitals run by Los Angeles County calls for them to shift strategy: Instead of trying everything to save a life, their goal during the crisis is to save as many patients as possible. That means those less likely to survive won't get the same kind of care offered in normal times.
Quote:As businesses struggle during what should be a very busy holiday shopping season, many hospitals are preparing for the possibility of rationing care. A document recently circulated among doctors at the four hospitals run by Los Angeles County calls for them to shift strategy: Instead of trying everything to save a life, their goal during the crisis is to save as many patients as possible. That means those less likely to survive won't get the same kind of care offered in normal times.
(12-20-2020, 04:50 PM)M T Wrote:(12-20-2020, 04:19 PM)magnus Wrote: I am hearing stories out of Texas with similar inability to treat or transfer leading to death.Texas is a large state; I mostly only track Houston. Texas Medical Center (a number of hospitals in Houston) is reporting 100% of phase 1 ICU capacity filled = 83% of phase 2 ICU capacity = 64% of phase 3 ICU capacity. 359 COVID in ICU of 1412 in ICU.
Very tragic.
(12-20-2020, 04:50 PM)M T Wrote:(12-20-2020, 04:19 PM)magnus Wrote: I am hearing stories out of Texas with similar inability to treat or transfer leading to death.Texas is a large state; I mostly only track Houston. Texas Medical Center (a number of hospitals in Houston) is reporting 100% of phase 1 ICU capacity filled = 83% of phase 2 ICU capacity = 64% of phase 3 ICU capacity. 359 COVID in ICU of 1412 in ICU.
Very tragic.
(12-20-2020, 06:34 PM)magnus Wrote:(12-20-2020, 04:50 PM)M T Wrote:(12-20-2020, 04:19 PM)magnus Wrote: I am hearing stories out of Texas with similar inability to treat or transfer leading to death.Texas is a large state; I mostly only track Houston. Texas Medical Center (a number of hospitals in Houston) is reporting 100% of phase 1 ICU capacity filled = 83% of phase 2 ICU capacity = 64% of phase 3 ICU capacity. 359 COVID in ICU of 1412 in ICU.
Very tragic.
Your posts are usually very enlightening and very on point, but in this case, I'm not sure what the point of your post was. I'll assume I'm just missing the intent and followup by adding that the story that I heard was from North Texas. (sorry, don't have the exact location). Regardless where it's from, assuming it's true (which I would put confidence at > seemingly true, but unverified twitter post, and < personal experience) it's bad out there. =(
(12-20-2020, 06:34 PM)magnus Wrote:(12-20-2020, 04:50 PM)M T Wrote:(12-20-2020, 04:19 PM)magnus Wrote: I am hearing stories out of Texas with similar inability to treat or transfer leading to death.Texas is a large state; I mostly only track Houston. Texas Medical Center (a number of hospitals in Houston) is reporting 100% of phase 1 ICU capacity filled = 83% of phase 2 ICU capacity = 64% of phase 3 ICU capacity. 359 COVID in ICU of 1412 in ICU.
Very tragic.
Your posts are usually very enlightening and very on point, but in this case, I'm not sure what the point of your post was. I'll assume I'm just missing the intent and followup by adding that the story that I heard was from North Texas. (sorry, don't have the exact location). Regardless where it's from, assuming it's true (which I would put confidence at > seemingly true, but unverified twitter post, and < personal experience) it's bad out there. =(