Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #100

[Cool Cats]

It really bugs me- like if a person is having a heart attack and needs to be hospitalized to save their life---- well, tough toenails tootsie for them- all of our beds are occupied with Covid patients-- so I guess that patient will just have to die ( and we know this is happening every day)- what kind of health system is that?

Woman had life-saving surgery pushed back because Tennessee's hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients

A Tennessee woman's life-saving surgery was pushed back because hospitals are so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients right now.

Nashville-based writer Betsy Phillips chronicled her journey, which she called an eight-month medical mystery, in a guest essay in the Washington Post.

"It's terrifying to experience a medical emergency during a pandemic," she said.

In January, Phillips' doctors discovered a lump on the front of her throat hindered her breathing. She was finally scheduled to have that lump removed in September to restore her normal breathing.

Instead, a week before her scheduled surgery, her doctors called to cancel because the hospital was so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, even after being told due to the seriousness of her condition, she would be among the last surgeries bumped off the schedule for this reason.

"I'm scared. I'm vaccinated, but a breakthrough case would be dangerous for me," she said. "I'm bone-deep disappointed. But mostly, I am angry. I did everything I was asked to do to avoid catching or spreading COVID-19. I wanted to do my part to end this crisis. Now, I wonder: Are there any circumstances under which my neighbors would do the same to keep me safe?"

Phillips said she was frustrated that her neighbors weren't getting vaccinated, leading to a new surge in hospitalizations as the highly transmissible Delta variant spreads - and that those people were getting priority for treatment.

"I'm still so very angry that people who put their feelings before others' well-being get to be first in the hospitals," she wrote.

Tennessee - which has one of the nation's lowest vaccination rates with just 43% fully vaccinated - is currently facing a new wave of new cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19, according to CDC data.

 

[ilovewings]

Woman had life-saving surgery pushed back because Tennessee's hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients

A Tennessee woman's life-saving surgery was pushed back because hospitals are so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients right now.

Nashville-based writer Betsy Phillips chronicled her journey, which she called an eight-month medical mystery, in a guest essay in the Washington Post.

"It's terrifying to experience a medical emergency during a pandemic," she said.

In January, Phillips' doctors discovered a lump on the front of her throat hindered her breathing. She was finally scheduled to have that lump removed in September to restore her normal breathing.

Instead, a week before her scheduled surgery, her doctors called to cancel because the hospital was so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, even after being told due to the seriousness of her condition, she would be among the last surgeries bumped off the schedule for this reason.

"I'm scared. I'm vaccinated, but a breakthrough case would be dangerous for me," she said. "I'm bone-deep disappointed. But mostly, I am angry. I did everything I was asked to do to avoid catching or spreading COVID-19. I wanted to do my part to end this crisis. Now, I wonder: Are there any circumstances under which my neighbors would do the same to keep me safe?"

Phillips said she was frustrated that her neighbors weren't getting vaccinated, leading to a new surge in hospitalizations as the highly transmissible Delta variant spreads - and that those people were getting priority for treatment.

"I'm still so very angry that people who put their feelings before others' well-being get to be first in the hospitals," she wrote.

Tennessee - which has one of the nation's lowest vaccination rates with just 43% fully vaccinated - is currently facing a new wave of new cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19, according to CDC data.

That situation is just so wrong: so it pays to be a selfish person who does not get vaccinated, thereby bringing this horrible disease on to yourself and spreading it to others, but you get the cadillac treatment while someone with a condition that should get treated urgently, gets booted aside. What I ask, is wrong with this picture?

 

[10ofRods]

Why can't they keep some beds open for non covid patients and when covid patients come to the hospital they can try and find beds for them- why should non covid patients be treated like chopped liver? It is so unfair-

I think everyone is frightened of COVID patients on the loose - or in wards with other people. No one wants to turn them loose back into the regular population (and that would be a tremendous liability for hospitals and doctors).

Unvaccinated COVID patients now find themselves driving the healthcare bus - to ruin. Here in Los Angeles, they're going to require vaccinations for LAPD (as they should - since they require so many vaccinations for little kids, it's only fair that the military, police and other first responders should be vaccinated). So a bunch of LAPD is threatening to quit.

Let them. And bill them for their COVID costs (that's starting to happen, isn't it?)

Not feeling charitable toward people who refuse to help solve this crisis, at least not this morning.

US coronavirus: 1 in 500 US residents has died of Covid-19 - CNN

I wonder how much worse it has to get. If one-third refuse vaccination...

It does seem that when a locale gets to 1 in 500 dying from COVID, word gets around that COVID is real (at the very least). It's mind-boggling that some people think this is no big deal.

1 in 500. Horrifying.

 

[mickey2942]

@Cool Cats I need to have some surgery done, and couldn't schedule it last January, 2021, because the hospitals were not taking anyone in, for surgery that was not an "emergency". I waited, until Summer was over, thinking, why ruin my summer? Now, again, can't get scheduled...not a big deal...but at some point I do need to have this done.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Our School Board Refused To Mandate Masks. Now Things Are Bad. Really Bad. — HuffPost

“I think about all the kids being let down right now. Missing their English lessons, their speech therapy, their football practice, their dance classes. Failing their tests, a lump in their throats, unable to do the packets of worksheets sent home. Anxious parents hovering, encouraging, scolding, not able to help them because they don’t speak the language. Our local health department reports that 79% of the kids in quarantine right now are there because of school contacts, not household contacts. If everyone were wearing a mask, how much of this could not be happening? Truly, it breaks my heart.”

 

[ilovewings]

@Cool Cats I need to have some surgery done, and couldn't schedule it last January, 2021, because the hospitals were not taking anyone in, for surgery that was not an "emergency". I waited, until Summer was over, thinking, why ruin my summer? Now, again, can't get scheduled...not a big deal...but at some point I do need to have this done.

Thank goodness your surgery can wait (although I am sure you want to get it over with)- Think about the people who need urgent or emergency procedures, or even elective procedures that will improve their quality of life, who cannot have these procedures because the hospitals have given preference to selfish unvaccinated Covid patients while others get the boot--- Here is what has happened: the unvaccinated contracted the virus but did not seek treatment right away- why? maybe they said, oh, it is just a cold, oh it is just the flu- it will go away- so they dawdle but finally they are at death's doorstep and they go to the hospital, at which point the hospital cannot turn them away.---any way you look at it, their behavior is costing other people's lives.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Influenza cases hit an all-time low in Australia in 2021 — that could be a problem when it returns

If you have been thinking the flu has virtually disappeared from our lives, you are not wrong.

"Other viruses circulating

If you've experienced flu-like symptoms this winter, and were not positive with COVID-19, it was possible you had one of a range of other respiratory illnesses"

"Dr Short said the concern was that because we have had a few seasons, without the natural boost to our immunity that seasonal flu provides, we will be more susceptible to the virus in the future.

"So maybe we're going into a severe flu outbreak," she said."

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Why Sydney's COVID-19 lockdown could end a week early for fully vaccinated people

NSW's COVID-19 lockdown could end for fully vaccinated people a week early, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying she is "confident" her state will reach its 70 per cent immunisation target ahead of schedule.

A suite of social-distancing restrictions will lift for fully vaccinated citizens the Monday after 70 per cent of NSW's population aged over 16 is fully inoculated.
As of September 13, 47.5 per cent, about 3.1 million people, were fully vaccinated.

NSW is administering 97,000 doses on average a day.

 

[SouthAussie]

The Covid-19 vaccine doesn’t generate magnetic properties in the human body. Lemon juice up the nose won’t kill coronavirus. Nor will keeping bundles of cloves, cardamom, camphor and mace in the pocket.

Over a year and a half into the pandemic, India has emerged as the biggest source of Covid misinformation, with one in six pieces of fake information coming out of the country, a new study has found, reports Chandrima Banerjee.

Among countries, India is the biggest source (18%), followed by Brazil (9%) and the USA (8.6%).

India world’s top source of misinfo on Covid-19: Study | India News - Times of India

 

[SouthAussie]

In June, China began to allow some children from three to 17 years old to be offered shots of a vaccine produced by drug-maker Sinovac .... In theory the Covid vaccine is voluntary in China, although some local governments have said that students will not be allowed back to school this term unless their entire family is double jabbed.

Denmark (12 to 15-year-olds) and Spain (12 to 19-year-olds) have both now vaccinated most of their child population with at least a single dose.

France too has been moving quickly with 66% of those aged 12 to 17 now single jabbed, and 52% fully vaccinated.

In Sweden children aged 12 to 15 are only eligible for a vaccine if they have lung disease, severe asthma or another high-risk medical condition.

Norway .... the vaccine rollout was recently extended to children aged 12 to 15, but only a first dose will be offered, with a decision on a second dose to be made later.

In Chile, it has already been approved for use in children from six years old

Covid: Which countries are vaccinating children and why?

 

[musicaljoke]

Deprived of work by COVID, prison escapee turns himself in after 30 years of beach life on the lam

September 15, 2021 / 4:45 AM / AP

Canberra, Australia — A 64-year-old fugitive walked into a Sydney police station to give himself up almost 30 years after he used a hacksaw blade and bolt cutters to escape from prison, police said on Wednesday. Darko Desic decided to go back to prison because Sydney's COVID-19 lockdown made him jobless and homeless, media reported.

Desic surrendered at Dee Why Police Station at Sydney's fashionable northern beaches on Sunday morning and was denied bail when he appeared in a downtown court on Tuesday charged with escaping from lawful custody in 1992, a police statement said. The charge carries a potential seven-year prison sentence.

Sydney's lockdown, which began in June, had cost Desic his cash-in-hand work as a laborer and handyman, unnamed police sources told Sydney's The Daily Telegraph and Australian Broadcasting Corp.

People enjoy the afternoon sunshine at Avalon Beach, January 10, 2021, in Sydney, Australia, where fugitive Darko Desic is believed to have spent 30 years living on the lam, until COVID-19 deprived him of work.

"He slept on the beach on Saturday night and said: 'Stuff it, I'll go back to prison where there's a roof over my head,'" a source told the newspaper.

Desic was 35 when he escaped from a century-old prison in Grafton, 390 miles north of Sydney, over the night of July 31-August 1, 1992.

Police allege he used tools including a hacksaw blade and bolt cutters to cut through his cell window bars and a perimeter fence.

He had served 13 months of a three-and-a-half-year sentence for growing marijuana.

Born in the former Yugoslavia, Desic told police he escaped because he thought he would be deported once he had served his sentence, the newspaper reported. He feared he would be punished for failing to do his compulsory military service in his former country, which has since broken into several nations.

You just can't make this stuff up!

 

[weepingangel]

Should you worry about breakthrough infections if you're vaccinated? Not really, says Dr. Ashish Jha
more at link
If you’re vaccinated and are wondering how concerned you should be about getting sick with a breakthrough case of COVID-19, Dr. Ashish Jha says you don’t really need to worry.

The dean of the Brown University School of Public Health laid out his reasoning in a thread on Twitter Tuesday night. While the daily risk of breakthrough infection among vaccinated individuals in the United States is about 1 in 5,000, Jha said those estimated 36,000 daily breakthrough infections may sound “bad,” but should not be that worrying if you’re vaccinated.

“What does 36K infections mean in terms of hospitalizations, deaths?” he wrote. “Among UNvaccinated, about 1 in 20 infections lead to hospitalization and 1 in 200 lead to death. Vaccines cut risk of each by 90%. Which means daily, 180 vaccinated folks getting hospitalized and about 18 dying.”

The doctor said if he examines the case fatality rate, or CFR, which represents the percentage of all recorded infections resulting in death, the number is about 0.12% for vaccinated individuals, or 40 deaths a day.

“So how bad is 18 (or even 40) deaths a day?” Jha wrote. “After accounting for proportion of population vaccinated, it’s lower than daily deaths in an [average] flu season.”







Breakthrough cases, delta variant: COVID-19 updates for Massachusetts

 

[weepingangel]

Animal hospitals, ERs feeling stress, pinch of COVID fatigue
More at link
Inside the emergency room at the MSPCA Angell Animal Hospital, staff work long hours to meet growing demand.
“We are seeing an increase in the total volume in cases to all the hospitals. Not only the big referral centers but general practices,” said Dr. Megan Whelan, Angell’s chief medical officer.
Whelan says the impact of all the pandemic pet adoptions, plus a shortage of vet techs, is leading to longer wait times and deferment for non-critical patients.
“We've never had to do it to this degree because we were always open and receiving pets. So, it was never an issue until this kind of pandemic hit us,” she said.
Just this week, animal emergency room at Tufts’ Cummings School in Grafton told people not to bring their pets in because it was at capacity. The only exception was life-threatening emergencies.






Also Pandemic related / bus driver shortage
National Guardsmen Train on 7D Buses to Drive Mass. Students to School

 

[JaneEyre]

Animal hospitals, ERs feeling stress, pinch of COVID fatigue
More at link
Inside the emergency room at the MSPCA Angell Animal Hospital, staff work long hours to meet growing demand.
“We are seeing an increase in the total volume in cases to all the hospitals. Not only the big referral centers but general practices,” said Dr. Megan Whelan, Angell’s chief medical officer.
Whelan says the impact of all the pandemic pet adoptions, plus a shortage of vet techs, is leading to longer wait times and deferment for non-critical patients.
“We've never had to do it to this degree because we were always open and receiving pets. So, it was never an issue until this kind of pandemic hit us,” she said.
Just this week, animal emergency room at Tufts’ Cummings School in Grafton told people not to bring their pets in because it was at capacity. The only exception was life-threatening emergencies.






Also Pandemic related / bus driver shortage
National Guardsmen Train on 7D Buses to Drive Mass. Students to School

Twice in the last two months our animal emergency clinic was at capacity when I had an emergency. I had to drive to another state, about an hour and 40 minutes.

Never have had that situation previously.

 

[LadyL]

Hong Kong panel advises 1 dose of BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for teens due to side effect - National | Globalnews.ca

 

[margarita25]

1 in 500 Americans Has Died From COVID-19

COVID-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

 

[Lilibet]

Should you worry about breakthrough infections if you're vaccinated? Not really, says Dr. Ashish Jha
more at link
If you’re vaccinated and are wondering how concerned you should be about getting sick with a breakthrough case of COVID-19, Dr. Ashish Jha says you don’t really need to worry.

The dean of the Brown University School of Public Health laid out his reasoning in a thread on Twitter Tuesday night. While the daily risk of breakthrough infection among vaccinated individuals in the United States is about 1 in 5,000, Jha said those estimated 36,000 daily breakthrough infections may sound “bad,” but should not be that worrying if you’re vaccinated.

“What does 36K infections mean in terms of hospitalizations, deaths?” he wrote. “Among UNvaccinated, about 1 in 20 infections lead to hospitalization and 1 in 200 lead to death. Vaccines cut risk of each by 90%. Which means daily, 180 vaccinated folks getting hospitalized and about 18 dying.”

The doctor said if he examines the case fatality rate, or CFR, which represents the percentage of all recorded infections resulting in death, the number is about 0.12% for vaccinated individuals, or 40 deaths a day.

“So how bad is 18 (or even 40) deaths a day?” Jha wrote. “After accounting for proportion of population vaccinated, it’s lower than daily deaths in an [average] flu season.”

Breakthrough cases, delta variant: COVID-19 updates for Massachusetts

Well, that’s super comforting. NOT!! I mean, I get what he’s saying statistically speaking. But if I let down my guard because of the statistics he cites and I end up with a breakthrough case, becoming one of his statistics and even dying…it’s cold comfort to me or my family to know that I was among the few. And he is not taking regional differences into consideration. I live in a high risk area, so I will continue with my precautions, Dr Jha.

 

[margarita25]

Should you worry about breakthrough infections if you're vaccinated? Not really, says Dr. Ashish Jha
more at link
If you’re vaccinated and are wondering how concerned you should be about getting sick with a breakthrough case of COVID-19, Dr. Ashish Jha says you don’t really need to worry.

The dean of the Brown University School of Public Health laid out his reasoning in a thread on Twitter Tuesday night. While the daily risk of breakthrough infection among vaccinated individuals in the United States is about 1 in 5,000, Jha said those estimated 36,000 daily breakthrough infections may sound “bad,” but should not be that worrying if you’re vaccinated.

“What does 36K infections mean in terms of hospitalizations, deaths?” he wrote. “Among UNvaccinated, about 1 in 20 infections lead to hospitalization and 1 in 200 lead to death. Vaccines cut risk of each by 90%. Which means daily, 180 vaccinated folks getting hospitalized and about 18 dying.”

The doctor said if he examines the case fatality rate, or CFR, which represents the percentage of all recorded infections resulting in death, the number is about 0.12% for vaccinated individuals, or 40 deaths a day.

“So how bad is 18 (or even 40) deaths a day?” Jha wrote. “After accounting for proportion of population vaccinated, it’s lower than daily deaths in an [average] flu season.”







Breakthrough cases, delta variant: COVID-19 updates for Massachusetts

Aug 26
‎COVID: What comes next - With Dr. Ashish Jha: Welcome to Episode 35 of “COVID: What comes next,” an exclusive weekly Providence Journal/USA TODAY NETWORK podcast featuring Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and an internationally respected expert on pandemic re on Apple Podcasts

Sept 14
‎COVID: What comes next - With Dr. Ashish Jha: Welcome to Episode 36 of “COVID: What comes next,” an exclusive weekly Providence Journal/USA TODAY NETWORK podcast featuring Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and an internationally respected expert on pandemic re on Apple Podcasts

 

[pocketaccent]

Dec 2020 - March 2021 group : .77%
vs
July - Oct 2020 group : 1.1%

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/15/cov...rough-cases-backing-need-for-third-doses.html

Moderna releases new data on Covid breakthrough cases it says supports need for booster shots
...
The U.S. drugmaker shared a new analysis from its phase three study that showed the incidence of breakthrough Covid cases, which occur in fully vaccinated people, was less frequent in a group of trial participants who were more recently inoculated, suggesting immunity for earlier groups had started to wane.

There were 88 identified breakthrough cases out of 11,431 people vaccinated between December and March, the company said in a release, compared with 162 breakthrough cases out of 14,746 trial participants vaccinated in July through October of last year.
...
"There’s a large debate, we all know, about whether or not vaccine boosters are going to be necessary into the fall,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said in a phone interview. “That debate, what makes it really hard is it’s not really about whether the vaccine worked last month. It’s really about whether it’s going to work this winter.”
...

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Researchers say phones need to be treated like a third hand

Australian researchers believe that mobile phones could significantly impact how pandemics are controlled in the future.

A study conducted by scientists at Bond University in Queensland found that mobile phones are contaminated with hazardous pathogens such as bacteria and viruses that reverse the advantages of hand washing if they aren't properly cleaned.