Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[Ayla]

a friend of mine’s son went to the ER last night. He has a rare, eventually terminal condition. High level of need. The wait in the Children’s Hospital ER was 10 hours. They were admitted last night, but he is currently still in the ER because there are no beds in the hospital for her child yet. Most of the ER was covid cases. Nurses and Doctors telling her it’s been like this since before spring break (which was a few weeks after mask mandates lifted here).

They are overwhelmed and having difficulties providing necessary care to extremely vulnerable kids, like hers. And those same doctors and nurses are just at a point of feeling defeated as they tell her they recognize that people just don’t care about covid anymore and want to go on with their lives. It’s frustrating to see everyone say there’s no real impact anymore, everyone will just get it and let’s move on, while *seeing* the impact it’s having.

We are trying to get my Mom transferred to a hospital in WI from IL and they are all full with covid patients. There are no beds available.

 

[Touchdown]

We are trying to get my Mom transferred to a hospital in WI from IL and they are all full with covid patients. There are no beds available.

Wisconsin beds are not full of Covid pts, they’re full of regular patients because of low staffing. Continuing to blame this on Covid is giving a free pass to authorities to ignore an extremely urgent issue by providing an easy scapegoat. We have a nursing crisis that is only getting worse because of low pay, and long hours/call. Take a look at the most recent Covid hospitalizations in WI:

Does that graph show WI hospitals are currently full of Covid pts?

 

[Disorbust]

I can't speak for other Wi hospitals but our system is full with "regular" patients as we were ALWAYS pre-covid. Staffing shortages really don't effect the amount of beds because they don't give a dam about safe ratios, burning staff out and take any traveler with a pulse and a licence. During "surges" elective surgeries were cancelled, making beds available and closed units were allowed by the state to be opened for more beds.

Your friend is trying to navigate a very broken health care system driven by profit and held together by bandaid solutions. If you work in health care you know the vulnerabilities and is why most of us were/are in mortal fear of a collapse of the system if covid gets ugly. Just look at NYC sending Covid pt back to Nursing homes, that was rationing care pure and simple. They needed beds for "sicker" pts and had no choice and prayed for the best.

 

[Lilofan]

Wisconsin beds are not full of Covid pts, they’re full of regular patients because of low staffing. Continuing to blame this on Covid is giving a free pass to authorities to ignore an extremely urgent issue by providing an easy scapegoat. We have a nursing crisis that is only getting worse because of low pay, and long hours/call. Take a look at the most recent Covid hospitalizations in WI:

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Does that graph show WI hospitals are currently full of Covid pts?

Nurses do have a tough job however the long hours is what they signed up for if working in hospital setting. 3 days on, 13 hours a day, 4 days off. The ones I know make around $88K per year. A few sign up for a 4th and 5th day OT during the year, and bring home annually approx $125K.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Doesn't capitalism rely on "for profit" enterprises? That COVID treatment is being influenced by the bottom line, even at WDW, should surprise precisely no-one. Big ups to the healthcare providers that have served so well during these abnormally challenging times. Hopefully local school districts reinstatement of mask mandates due to a high transmission does not find its way down I95 to WDW.

 

[Disorbust]

Its not 13 hours usually 15 when all is said and done, not including getting mandated. Having actually done the 3 12s for years is not what you necesaarly sign up for. You do it out of necessity such as child care and being able to pick up those extra shifts. Those "4 days off" are spent recovering and getting everthing done you let sit while you were working. Sounds great till you live it.

Nurses are not "signing up for it" anymore with 20% leaving the bedside.

My DD is three years out with her BBA, works 9-5, no holidays, no weekends and can take a Friday off without planning for it six months in advanced. She is paid more then I am after 30 years of bedside Nursing.

BTW, my hospital system has also made record profits.

 

[Lilofan]

Its not 13 hours usually 15 when all is said and done, not including getting mandated. Having actually done the 3 12s for years is not what you necesaarly sign up for. You do it out of necessity such as child care and being able to pick up those extra shifts. Those "4 days off" are spent recovering and getting everthing done you let sit while you were working. Sounds great till you live it.

Nurses are not "signing up for it" anymore with 20% leaving the bedside.

My DD is three years out with her BBA, works 9-5, no holidays, no weekends and can take a Friday off without planning for it six months in advanced. She is paid more then I am after 30 years of bedside Nursing.

I’m at my family member bedside for the last 4 weeks. Nurses work 7am-8pm 3 days a week, and are out the door by 8pm ( I’ve seen it personally ) and I have family members doing those roles , barring any items that they did not finish up with could be a 14 hour day. The ones who want to make more money work 7pm-8am 3 shifts a week for the added night shift pay. 9-5? Probably a nurse training mgr , those RNs work their way up to get those roles and hours.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Also have 2 of my kids in healthcare, especially one who is a nurse for the past 7 years on a telemetry floor that was converted into a COVID floor during the pandemic. It was always more than 14 hours per shift with pre and post reporting and charting. Still hoping WDW does not have either COVID or long shift concerns.

 

[Heppenheimer]

To change the subject, anecdotally, I have been quite impressed by the efficacy of Paxlovid, which for those who don't know, is the most commonly used oral medication for COVID. This is far from a scientifically valid sample population, but among my patients who have taken the medication, most have recovered remarkably fast after starting the medication, even some who I worried would suffer from severe cases. I am seeing a troubling amount of COVID right now, but I'm also seeing very few patients becoming severely ill, with the caveat being that most of my observations are within a population that recieves regular preventative health care.

The combination of widely available home testing and paxlovid might be how we move a little more comfortably into the "living with COVID" stage of the pandemic.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Prayers to your friend’s son. My loved one has been in the hospital for over 4 weeks now , I visit everyday, non Covid related but for a week the Covid cases rose and the hospital changed visitation to only one at a time , but recently changed to two visitors at a time during visit hours. Yes waits in ER sometimes in a bed in the ER hallway in my area can be 2-3 days at times to get into a regular hospital bed area due to hospital being full house. One tidbit I learned from the RNs was Easter had an overflow of patients in the ER. I asked why. I was told a number of the patients had issues with heart , didn’t get to to the ER and just dealt with symptoms. When Easter came around, the stress of the holiday overwhelmed them and a number were rushed to the ER on that Sunday.

Holidays often see a large influx of cardiac patients, mainly from CHF and diabetes patients slacking on their diet. All that heavily salted and sweetened food.

 

[danlb_2000]

To change the subject, anecdotally, I have been quite impressed by the efficacy of Paxlovid, which for those who don't know, is the most commonly used oral medication for COVID. This is far from a scientifically valid sample population, but among my patients who have taken the medication, most have recovered remarkably fast after starting the medication, even some who I worried would suffer from severe cases. I am seeing a troubling amount of COVID right now, but I'm also seeing very few patients becoming severely ill, with the caveat being that most of my observations are within a population that recieves regular preventative health care.

The combination of widely available home testing and paxlovid might be how we move a little more comfortably into the "living with COVID" stage of the pandemic.

The clinical trials showed an 89% reduction in severe illness and death when Paxlovid was given to unvaccinated people. The important thing to remember about it is that is has to be given within 5 days of the start of symptoms.

 

[Lilofan]

Holidays often see a large influx of cardiac patients, mainly from CHF and diabetes patients slacking on their diet. All that heavily salted and sweetened food.

Slacking on diet on holidays is a mild understatement . The amount of food consumed , salty, sweet, fried, greased in our gatherings is mind boggling. So much for the doctor’s recommendation of portions being no more than the size of the palm of your hand. That’s one thing vacationing in WDW during the summer . Heat index past 100, not much of an appetite but hydration day and night.

 

[Heppenheimer]

The clinical trials showed an 89% reduction in severe illness and death when Paxlovid was given to unvaccinated people. The important thing to remember about it is that is has to be given within 5 days of the start of symptoms.

From a practical perspective, what I'm seeing is that the patients test themselves at home as soon as they develop the symptoms, and if positive, they call us right away. Were we still relying primarily on the send-out tests, which needed to be scheduled and then typically had a 12-48 hour turn-around time, 5 days would have been a tough window to hit consistently. With home testing though, it's pretty easy to get the first dose in the patient within 24 hours of the start of symptoms.

My experience is also that patients who refused to get vaccinated have also turned down paxlovid for many of the same BS reasons.

 

[Heelz2315]

To change the subject, anecdotally, I have been quite impressed by the efficacy of Paxlovid, which for those who don't know, is the most commonly used oral medication for COVID. This is far from a scientifically valid sample population, but among my patients who have taken the medication, most have recovered remarkably fast after starting the medication, even some who I worried would suffer from severe cases. I am seeing a troubling amount of COVID right now, but I'm also seeing very few patients becoming severely ill, with the caveat being that most of my observations are within a population that recieves regular preventative health care.

The combination of widely available home testing and paxlovid might be how we move a little more comfortably into the "living with COVID" stage of the pandemic.

That’s good to hear

 

[DisneyCane]

I’ve been testing negative since Wednesday and all my “allergy” symptoms are finally gone too. I have several friends who had bad “allergies” at the same time so we’re wondering if they had it too, the upside of Omicron being a milder strain (in general) is fewer very sick people but the downside is it’s easily mistaken for other ailments so who knows what the real cases are.

Cases here are creeping up but still a tiny fraction of what they were, worth keeping an eye on though.

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Also, as far as I can tell, all COVID hospitalization data is people hospitalized (or in the ICU) that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, not people who are in the hospital or ICU due to COVID complications. Upticks in those numbers could mean nothing more than a small bump in cases in the area meaning that a slightly higher percentage of any random sample will test positive.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Forgot to mention earlier that my friend with Lymphoma, who has been fighting long Covid since Jan, is now completely clear of Covid but is still suffering from some issues from her double pneumonia, and unfortunately has zero covid antibodies. Her cancer medications have wiped out all the antibodies she got from her vaccine, booster, and actually having the virus. She is signed up for an experimental vaccine they’ve developed for people with autoimmue disorders though so hopefully that will provide her some protection.

Covid is kind of back page news now but it’s encouraging they’re still actively developing and improving the vaccines, medications, and treatments.

 

[Joesixtoe]

Anti-nucleocapsid antibodies following SARS-CoV-2 infection in the blinded phase of the mRNA-1273 Covid-19 vaccine efficacy clinical trial

Importance The performance of immunoassays for determining past SARS-CoV-2 infection, which were developed in unvaccinated individuals, has not been assessed in vaccinated individuals. Objective To evaluate anti-nucleocapsid antibody (anti-N Ab) seropositivity in mRNA-1273 vaccine efficacy...

www.medrxiv.org

A study from the National Institute of health as well from Moderna during their clinical trial about anti-nucleocapsid antibodies in both recovered unvaccinated and recovered vaccinated individuals. Anti-nucleocapsid antibodies possibly play an important role in defending off covid both from the original strain and future varients because of how slowly the nucleocapsid protein mutates, unlike the spike protein which mutates more rapidly, potentially rendering vaccines usless against possible future varients. The study shows that the unvaccinated individuals gained these antibodies 93% of the time, while the vaccinated gained them about 40% of the time, however the more severe the case the more equal the outcome was. With a mild viral load the unvaccinated had a 71% chance of developing these antibodies while vaccinated had a 15% chance. This could be one reason why you see quite a few multiple covid infections within a short time span.

 

[The Mom]

Please take all media reports with a grain of salt.

 

[Married5Times]

Please take all media reports with a grain of salt.

**all** indeed. Or if not all then very close to it

 

[disneygeek90]

Orange Co Fl is still in the low/green category. It won’t be long before they’re yellow/medium then red/high.

Wonder how WDW will react? It may be they do nothing unless Demings reacts. Granted there’s no national mandate, the last one was the transportation one. That’s gone.

I have serious doubts on what is even being reported. With the amount of at home tests (which is a good thing), how can they even properly gauge the numbers? I tested positive Wednesday but the state would never know. I even looked online to see if I could at least report my positivity, but couldn't find anything.