DisneyCane
Well-Known Member
Considering that you state it is happening in all 50 states, how do you then blame it on putting "your faith in the wrong political leader?" The governors are in control of everything and the President doesn't actually have any power over them. You may say that he has influence over the Republican governors but certainly not over the Democrat governors. Yet every state is having issues to some degree.You know what changes behavior? Expericing a bad outcome in a close loved one or friend, and I hate to say it but most Americans are about to experience one very soon, and it might not be Grandma or Grandpa it might be Uncle Bob, Mom, Dad, cousin Stu or even little Sally.
Hospitals are reaching capacity in the Midwest and Texas, it’s hard to fully appreciate how close we are because reports are based on how many empty beds we have but most hospitals have simply run out of nurses to staff them. When hospitals can’t admit anyone further then they need to start rationing care and not just on the Covid wards, everywhere. Cases are rising in all 50 states so without something changing it will spread to the whole country.
Imagine getting a call from the ER that your loved one has suffered a major heart attack, stroke, or trauma and being told you have two choices in care for that loved one, suboptimal care that will not include needed surgical interventions and are unlikely to keep then alive and if they did leave them with permanent disabilities or you can accept hospice care where we will ease their passing (and allow you to visit them one last time) by keeping them pain free. Unfortunately our algorithm and bed capacity have told us they are too sick and too much of a risk for our resources to be spent on them and need to be saved for someone we are sure we can.
This is coming, and may be happening in a matter of weeks in the parts of the Midwest and Texas which would mean it’s so close now nothing can stop it, the people who will experience this first already have Covid (it will be first felt there before spreading to other diagnoses.)
When it does, don’t blame the healthcare industry and workers; we’ve been telling you this for months this would happen but you couldn’t stop yourself and you put your faith in the wrong political leader and are very much about to learn a bitter economic lesson in supply and demand. Winter has come all ye grasshoppers and the anthill will not let you in.
On the plus side, vaccine compliance is going to be through the roof after this because as always Americans are really good at doing the right thing eventually, after we’ve exhausted every wrong option and have been personally burned by our stubbornness.
The vaccine news is wonderful, I spent all day yesterday booking hotel rooms starting in March (as always I’m an optimist) but folks it’s always darkest just before the dawn and this winter is going to be terrible. Prepare and take all precautions to avoid a hospitalizing illness as you may not be able to get care.
For some comparison, in cases per capita, Florida is lower than Illinois in total and much lower in daily cases per capita right now. Yet, Florida would be the one most closely following the "wrong political leader." So, can we please stop the political blame game and pretending that some magical policies can make this better short of draconian lockdowns?
It is a virus. Viruses spread and infect new hosts. That's what they exist to do. The only way to for human intervention to truly stop them or even significantly slow them while maintaining some semblance of civilization is with a vaccine that prevents them from infecting a new host.
It isn't a political policy issue like funding Medicare. It is a disease. If it did escape from a Chinese lab then the people with bad safety protocols were at fault. Other than that, no human can be blamed for this disease. Please note that I said "if" that is what happened. If it was just a natural development than no human is at fault but China's government lying at the beginning did make things worse worldwide.