Are Big City Hospitals Really Getting Hit With COVID-19 Pts?

[EPS]

I'm almost embarrassed to post this... I am an ED nurse at a 450-bed hospital in the midwest. We have not been taxed by COVID patients yet. My wife has become somewhat of a conspiracy theorist and is questioning everything. She found a thread somewhere that convinced her that what we are seeing on TV is not really happening. We have had some serious arguments about this stuff, but she won't stop. She said that lots of nurses were reporting that nothing was happening at their hospitals.

I would like to see if any of the nurses from the hospitals that are being seriously affected are on this forum and can comment. I realize that most of you are probably too exhausted to even get on a forum.

Thank you!

[HandsOffMySteth]

Just because you don't see it does not mean it does not exist. Obviously some places are hit very hard and others are hardly touched by it. Keeping perspective is important too. Some people think it's the end of the world and others (like your wife) deny there is a problem at all.

The 2017 season flu killed 61,000 and to date CV19 has killed 40,189 US citizens to date. Of course we are comparing a whole season to two months. In the end I project this will be somewhere near as bad as that flu season. And yet the flu barely made the news at the time.

[Thanksforthedonuts, BSN, RN]

I can’t tell you from the hospice side what is going on. I’m in the greater Seattle area. We had three people in our church die this week. I think stats are helpful so I’ll add -> stats: non smokers, not drug users, roughly 50s-60s and slightly overweight.

[Guest219794]

7 hours ago, CraggyPhenominalSoup said:

Yes I am a first time poster. I've been a lurker for years. I'm not sure if you are talking about the op or me. I am a RN and I am angry right now that people continue to deny this thing exists. I have been working over 100 hours a week up until I nearly passed out at work because people keep calling in because they are scared. And after experiencing it myself, I don't blame them.

Talking about the OP.
'He has been gone from this thread for a while, But, he continues to get responses.
I hope is wife is better now, and seeing these testimonials have done a better job of convincing her than the thousands of testimonials that were just a click away.

[CraggyPhenominalSoup]

10 minutes ago, hherrn said:

Talking about the OP.
'He has been gone from this thread for a while, But, he continues to get responses.
I hope is wife is better now, and seeing these testimonials have done a better job of convincing her than the thousands of testimonials that were just a click away.

Thank you. This is the worst I have ever felt in my life. Now I have started vomiting. My eyes hurt and my boss is asking me if I am still running a fever so he doesn't care. I guarantee as soon as I am fever free for the magical 72 hours he will force me back to work.

[ladycody, BSN, RN]

2 hours ago, juniper222 said:

Just because you don't see it does not mean it does not exist. Obviously some places are hit very hard and others are hardly touched by it. Keeping perspective is important too. Some people think it's the end of the world and others (like your wife) deny there is a problem at all.

The 2017 season flu killed 61,000 and to date CV19 has killed 40,189 US citizens to date. Of course we are comparing a whole season to two months. In the end I project this will be somewhere near as bad as that flu season. And yet the flu barely made the news at the time.

I suspect it will be worse by quite a bit. Evwn if the numbers are the same for the year....the impact to the healthcare system has been totally different. Significant covid hits super hard and lasts for weeks...and has hit much more quickly. If the flu is bad....it still doesn't tend to require dialysis and weeks of intubation.

[HandsOffMySteth]

3 hours ago, ladycody said:

I suspect it will be worse by quite a bit. Evwn if the numbers are the same for the year....the impact to the healthcare system has been totally different. Significant covid hits super hard and lasts for weeks...and has hit much more quickly. If the flu is bad....it still doesn't tend to require dialysis and weeks of intubation.

If you look at the statistical graph of cases, we are on the downward slope and I would guess we are 2/3rds though this. If you take the numbers of flu deaths and divide by 3 you get 20,000. Add 20,000 to the current CV deaths you get around the same number as flu deaths. Of course these are all estimates. I wouldn't call the flu deaths any less terminal than the CV19 ones. Death is death. I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of this, just presenting some historical perspective.

[Guest219794]

8 hours ago, juniper222 said:

If you look at the statistical graph of cases, we are on the downward slope and I would guess we are 2/3rds though this. If you take the numbers of flu deaths and divide by 3 you get 20,000. Add 20,000 to the current CV deaths you get around the same number as flu deaths. Of course these are all estimates. I wouldn't call the flu deaths any less terminal than the CV19 ones. Death is death. I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of this, just presenting some historical perspective.

So- if I have this right, you estimate that we will have 60,000 Covid 19 deaths. How does that square up with estimates from epidemiologists?

For the sake of discussion, let's say we max out at 60,000 deaths, just like the flu. Now that we have some historical perspective. And, while the flu is bad, it is an annual event we regularly deal with. I understand the perspective.

Except that the fatality rate is dictated by mitigation efforts. And, in this case, the mitigation efforts have been unprecedented and at huge expense to this country.

Placing two things next to each other for perspective is called a comparison. Comparing Covid to the flu, as you did, is ludicrous. In order for this perspective to be remotely relevant, you would have to compare the flu to what Covid would look like if we treated it like the flu. Where would we be if we just went about our live with a few PSA's about hand washing?

Comparing Covid to the flu (or providing this historical perspective) is like comparing a brush fire to a campfire you roast hot dogs on. To provide some historical perspective, that brush fire is the same size as our annual weenie roast. Except it is dry, and windy, and the forest is completely full of fuel. The longer people think it will burn itself out like our campfire does, the more devastation it will cause.

That historical perspective you presented is the perspective presented by our leading health experts, Hannity and Limbaugh, as well as many others early on. That perspective helped shape our response. And, to be clear, there is not one country in the world using our response as an example to emulate. Not one.

As a nurse, people may trust you. Treat what you say as though people will respect it.

[Guest219794]

Found this, thought it was well worded.

[SilleLu]

400+ beds, SE michigan but not Detroit. 3 ICU units, a makeshift ICU in an unused area, 2 out of 3 med/surg units, 1 large tele unit were ALL made into Covid units and ALL had a good number of covid and/or r/o patients. BiPaps made into vents because we had no more vents. This is ridiculously real. Deaths of several in their early 20s. IT IS REAL. Hopefully your area won't see what we see.

[HandsOffMySteth]

9 hours ago, hherrn said:

So- if I have this right, you estimate that we will have 60,000 Covid 19 deaths. How does that square up with estimates from epidemiologists?

For the sake of discussion, let's say we max out at 60,000 deaths, just like the flu. Now that we have some historical perspective. And, while the flu is bad, it is an annual event we regularly deal with. I understand the perspective.

Except that the fatality rate is dictated by mitigation efforts. And, in this case, the mitigation efforts have been unprecedented and at huge expense to this country.

Placing two things next to each other for perspective is called a comparison. Comparing Covid to the flu, as you did, is ludicrous. In order for this perspective to be remotely relevant, you would have to compare the flu to what Covid would look like if we treated it like the flu. Where would we be if we just went about our live with a few PSA's about hand washing?

Comparing Covid to the flu (or providing this historical perspective) is like comparing a brush fire to a campfire you roast hot dogs on. To provide some historical perspective, that brush fire is the same size as our annual weenie roast. Except it is dry, and windy, and the forest is completely full of fuel. The longer people think it will burn itself out like our campfire does, the more devastation it will cause.

That historical perspective you presented is the perspective presented by our leading health experts, Hannity and Limbaugh, as well as many others early on. That perspective helped shape our response. And, to be clear, there is not one country in the world using our response as an example to emulate. Not one.

As a nurse, people may trust you. Treat what you say as though people will respect it.

The ONLY thing I compared was the total deaths in order to calculate what this will end like. You apparently inferred that I am just saying this is just like the flu and then attacked that idea. This is what is known as a straw man fallacy. There are obvious differences here as anyone can see. The perspective I present is based on the 2017 flu season which was quite bad. You should read and comprehend what has been said before you criticize.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

On 4/16/2020 at 2:27 PM, hherrn said:

Just bear in mind that there is a good chance this the OP is fiction.

Thousands of first hand reports are a click away for anyone who want to see. Many of them on this forum.

Why would a real nurse with 26 years of experience need a particular thread to convince his wife that reality is real? There are plenty of threads that do that, but none that bring p the belief that this is overblown. What on earth does this thread add to the overwhelming evidence?

THIS! If you work in an ER of a 450 bed hospital (even in the Midwest:) you have to be computer literate and know how to search for information. This is not a nurse.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

On 4/16/2020 at 10:30 AM, A Hit With The Ladies said:

I wonder what'll happen in Michigan when there were mass protests in public against the quarantine there yesterday. Do you guys think it'll get worse there because of the protest?

I can't like your username and photo enough. Gives me a big smile. What a display in Lansing of the underclass of the state. The two people I saw interviewed was the large unit in the car complaining she couldn't get her roots done and someone else was complaining about not being able to get grass seed. For the rural folks, the rates are low but continue to go up in Michigan. I Googled "Are IQ rates becoming more disparate?" and saw a couple of short news stories re: scientists who are studying the issue and believe that to be true for people born after 1975. Demonstrations like this only confirm that to be true:)