Covid and Hospitals: How are things now?

gere7404, BSN, RN · May 5, 2021

7 hours ago, NurseBlaq said:

Too many politicians playing doctors and scientists and too many scientists and doctors playing politics is the problem.

This is a great summation for the last year

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · May 5, 2021

I definitely hope it just becomes mutated to a flu/cold level of viral nastiness soon. I do wish they would keep the mask mandate for flying and crowded venues. I was always paranoid about viruses in those long before this. It was nice this Winter at work when nobody was sick with the usual viral junk.

I really wish there was a way of getting people to see that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risk. However, changing peoples minds seems impossible. Many are so entrenched in their beliefs.

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 5, 2021

Last week we had only three Covid Positive patients and our covid unit remains closed. Other nearby hospitals have more patients as we aren't the preferred ER for the area and there is no longer ERs going on covid divert.

Here in Florida the governor lifted all remaining covid restrictions and ended the "state of emergency". I can agree we are not in a state of emergency but I think the percent of positivity is still 7%. Mercifully most of them aren't hospitalized. Private business are free to have restrictions and places like grocery stores and Disney World are have ongoing precautions but they are voluntary.

And so it goes.......

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 5, 2021

23 hours ago, NurseBlaq said:

People think because they are vaccinated they are free to roam without masks or precautions when there's evidence of fully vaccinated people catching covid again. Then you have some who blame the unvaccinated instead of just acknowledging the vaccines aren't a cure or the fact that there was an already unknown amount of mutations floating around. Or what about the people who can't get vaccinated? The point is we still don't know the true effectiveness of the vaccines so people shouldn't be acting as if everything has improved nor is a hoax, vaccinated or not. That's just my $0.02.

Example: https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/coronavirus/after-fully-vaccinated-father-dies-of-covid-19-family-hopes-story-raises-awareness/2500933/

Exactly, people shouldn't forget that no vaccine maker ever claimed that vaccines were a cure or 100% effective. Even if 99% effective, that's 1% of people that are going to get sick.

I don't think we can act like covid doesn't exist, but I feel safer being vaccinated at my age (over 60) than I did last year when I wasn't. By all indications hospitalizations for seniors have dropped dramatically here in Florida. Nursing homes are no longer problematic with rates of covid infections dropping dramatically. It's not a cure-all but all indications are pointing to vaccine effectiveness at least in the short-term. Obviously long-term relief is evasive at this point.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · May 5, 2021

At Tuesday's press conference, President Joe Biden set new vaccination goal: At least one dose to 70% of US adults by July 4th.

PA

As of May 1, 2021, 2,696 people in Pennsylvania were in hospital inpatient beds due to a confirmed or suspected case of the coronavirus and 586 adults were in ICU beds -60 on vents. There have been an average of 2,701 people in inpatient hospital beds and 579 adults in ICU beds each day over the week prior.

Pennsylvania will lift its coronavirus mitigation measures on Memorial Day, state officials announced Tuesday, Philadelphia, however, was not yet set to follow suit. 42% PA residents are now fully vaccinated.

Philadelphia: Averaging 334 new cases a day, down 45% compared to the average two weeks ago (612 a day).

Pennsylvania: Averaging 3,176 new cases a day, down 30% compared to the average two weeks ago (4,544 a day).

New Jersey: Averaging 1,458 new cases a day, down 54% compared to the average two weeks ago (3,197 a day).

Delaware: Averaging 217 new cases a day, down 42% compared to the average two weeks ago (372 a day).

https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/live/covid-coronavirus-philadelphia-cases-restrictions-pa-nj-de-updates-20210505.html#card-1592308905

AP news reports The CDC is now reporting an average of about 350,000 new cases each week, 35,000 hospitalizations and over 4,000 deaths.

Compare that to India having 350,000 cases EACH DAY past week.

PA has 9millon+ residents. As of Sunday, 5.14 million people have been partially vaccinated in Pennsylvania, and 3.55 million people have been fully vaccinated.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · May 6, 2021

What a great fully vaccinated rate for PA.

Here in North Texas our positivity rate has stayed at 6 - 7% for quite some time. Almost seems like we cannot get below that. I read California has 0.6 or something. That seems hard to believe after they were so bad not very long ago.

turtlesRcool · May 6, 2021

Here in CT, our vaccination rate is strong. We recently became the first state to hit over 50% to have at least one dose, and we're over 40% at full vaccination. My town is over 60% with the first shot, and nearing the 50% mark on fully vaxed. My kids' school district is planning a clinic next week, and will include kids down to 12, if the Pfizer approval comes through. So, assuming the FDA acts as expected early next week, my 7th grader can get his first dose on Friday! Fingers crossed for quick(ish) authorization on the next phase; I would love to see my two younger kids get their jabs before school starts in the fall.

Positivity rate here has been under 3% for a while, and cases per 100,000 are in the teens overall, with some towns much lower and others in the 20s. I'd like to see these rates keep falling, but not bad considering how high our rates were a month or two ago.

Hospitalizations remain low for COVID, though at my hospital we still do have half a unit open for + and PUI/PUM patients. Hopefully the combination of vaccinations and warmer weather will mean a continued drop in our infection rates.

Our general medicine floor was designated the primary COVID unit, and while many other units were converted to COVID during our peaks, the gen-med nurses have really borne the brunt of COVID care this year. As a cohort, they are pretty exhausted, and I'm hoping they'll be able to get back to more of their usual patients in the coming months.

JVBT, ASN · May 8, 2021

On 5/6/2021 at 7:38 AM, CrunchRN said:

What a great fully vaccinated rate for PA.

Here in North Texas our positivity rate has stayed at 6 - 7% for quite some time. Almost seems like we cannot get below that. I read California has 0.6 or something. That seems hard to believe after they were so bad not very long ago.

California is a huge state, not affected by Covid uniformly. The Bay area has been notable for taking the virus seriously, its diligence, good planning, masking and vax rate.

DesiDani · May 8, 2021

Much better. Then again I never worked on a COVID unit and only floated to one 3 times. I do feel sorry for those who got hired to work on unit that were temporarily open or created for COVID. Now they are like refugees. Not actually Float Pool, they just put them where ever. They get cancelled a lot, which sucks too. Don't know why they just don't ask to get placed on a permanent unit? I think it is because they are hoping that their old unit will open back up again?

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · May 10, 2021

That is kind of ironic. Hope they find a home base.

gere7404, BSN, RN · May 10, 2021

On 5/7/2021 at 5:48 PM, DesiDani said:

Much better. Then again I never worked on a COVID unit and only floated to one 3 times. I do feel sorry for those who got hired to work on unit that were temporarily open or created for COVID. Now they are like refugees. Not actually Float Pool, they just put them where ever. They get cancelled a lot, which sucks too. Don't know why they just don't ask to get placed on a permanent unit? I think it is because they are hoping that their old unit will open back up again?

They closed down an entire unit? Like, you guys have empty beds just sitting there??

So jealous. We had to put our ER on divert the last night I worked because we had so many boarders. We had like four open ER beds out of 40, the rest were filled with admitted boarders.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · May 11, 2021

Are boarders patients waiting for a room to be available?