My Ultimate Warning based on personal Experience with COVID+ patients and co-workers.

[theoneandonly]

These are the Facts based on nearly 4 weeks of this Pandemic. I have been on the front lines. Read Carefully and heed my warning.

1) If you suffer from Asthma, Lung CA, COPD, and/or other chronic lung disorders, your chances of surviving COVID-19 are slim to none. This virus attacks the lungs hard, if your lungs are already weakened, your already on the losing end of the battle with the virus.

2) If your a chronic smoker, vape, or smoke marijuana, you too, are on the losing ending of this battle.

3) Patients with no past medical history can also get very sick or even die from this virus, I have seen it happen. Why this is is not completely understood at this time, but it could be linked to lifestyle choices if you look at #2 Fact.

4) If your Obese, you likely have a weakened immune system. You also likely suffer from HTN, DM II, CAD, and other chronic health disorders which weaken your immune system. You will likely develop a severe illness from this virus and potentially be put on a ventilator.

5) Many patients who survive and are discharged require oxygen at home. Yes, you will likely need oxygen support when you leave the hospital. For how long? It's not known, but I have seen patients who need an additional 1-2 weeks of O2 support after discharge.

6) Many patients are dying from the virus. Morgues are filled to capacity in the hospital. If your loved one is dead, they are likely in a refrigerated truck.

7) This virus will NOT vanish during the Summer months. If you look at countries with warmer climates like Brazil, Ecuador, Turkey, and Egypt, these countries have large outbreaks. Warm weather can possibly slow down the virus but it won't go away.

9. Many COVID+ patients I have dealt with are getting progressively worse. Very few improve. And many have been in the hospital for more than 2 weeks already.

10) Your healthcare Co-workers will get sick and die from this virus. Many at my facility have gotten sick from this virus and are now patients themselves.

My friends, the danger is very real. This virus shows no mercy. I personally do not think it's worth putting your life in danger for money. A job is replaceable, your life isn't. Think carefully of what you will do next. Will you quit? If you do, I don't blame you. There is little we know about this virus and not enough protection. You are the author of your destiny.

Stay Blessed,

[Naturally Brilliant, BSN, RN]

No disrespect, but I think there's some self-selection bias in play here. The sickest Coronavirus sufferers are the ones who are going to be the hospitalized patients. For every patient in the hospital with Coronavirus, there's probably about ten times as many at home recuperating, in various stages of illness. The current mortality rate in the U.S. is about 3% to 4%:

https://coronavirus.1point3acres.com/en

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

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My friends, the danger is very real. This virus shows no mercy.

Oh, come on. It's more virulent than the flu, but it's not Ebola, either. I'm not saying folks shouldn't take the Coronavirus serious, but it's not a coin-flip on survivability if you do get it.

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I personally do not think it's worth putting your life in danger for money. A job is replaceable, your life isn't.

The War in Iraq was very dangerous. Nearly 4,500 American soldiers lost their lives there. But you know how many U.S. soldiers served in Iraq altogether? More than 2 million. Do the math.

Plus, you could quit your job and live Coronavirus-free until this crisis is over, then get hit by a car and die the very next day. Life is about risk mitigation, not risk avoidance. You can choose to manage risk, including caring for patients with Coronavirus, and that's what many doctors and nurses today are doing.

[theoneandonly]

The War in Iraq was very dangerous. Nearly 4,500 American soldiers lost their lives there. But you know how many U.S. soldiers served in Iraq altogether? More than 2 million. Do the math.

[theoneandonly]

-LOL we didn't join the military. Nurses didn't sign up to die in a battlefield. We went to college, to get our degree and a job just like the rest of society. We didn't become nurses to go into a war zone. This isn't the military

[SNRN2BE]

ttps://ojin.nursingworld

Florence Nightingale once described a time in her nursing career and related it to military life.

As a former Sailor of 10 years (active duty), in many ways nursing is so much more challenging and sacrificial than serving in the military. Veteran RNs can eat the young. This is the first time healthcare workers are being considered heroes. When for most of us, it’s what any decent human being should do for others. We’re not expected to pick up a weapon, but when you’re starting an iv on a MH prisoner who’s hep c positive, needing tx and has a hx of pulling out ivs. Our ivs are like weapons to some patients, even if they use needles to get high, (hep c). The patient and I had a rapport f a previous procedure. He was respectful, even in shackles and with guards to assist me, a needle near a pt who’s mentation is questionable (they should always be) with a deadly virus, can be considered dangerous to many people.
My point is, if we can help, we should. I’m a smoker (30 years), have undiagnosed Copd (probably), just got over a nasty abscess on my bum and I’m a med/surg nurse. I’m ready to go. I’ll strictly employ recommended precautions and carry on while the virus is strong.
I’m going to start building my travel nurse resume. So I can help.

RN

m/s tele, 4 years

[CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Your opinions are valid but as someone else said, there’s selection bias here. So far, I know 9 people who have tested positive (not exclusively young, healthy people. Several are obese, two are in their 70s, etc). Of that nine, one had to be ventilated in the ICU. Fortunately, she is almost ready for discharge now. 8 were home with mild symptoms (they were only tested because of expose and they are HCW.) Is this anecdotal? Of course it is, just like your statement that “very few improve.” My anecdote is pretty in-line with the data, which shows that 95% have mild or no symptoms. You are observing a pool of critically ill people. I am observing a pool of the general population. Fortunately, most of us will never be admitted to your unit!

9 hours ago, Naturally Brilliant said:

No disrespect, but I think there's some self-selection bias in play here. The sickest Coronavirus sufferers are the ones who are going to be the hospitalized patients.

Thank you.

[Curious1alwys, BSN, RN]

Well if I wasn't scared before, I am now. ?

[umbdude, MSN, APRN]

That's why we need more testing because otherwise it's simply very difficult to tell what's going on. We need data to tell how much risk we're taking.

OP's sample size is small and there's some exaggeration in tone. However, in confirmed cases, those with chronic conditions are presented with much higher fatality rates (CVD >10%, and HTN, lung diseases, and diabetes anywhere from 5% to 8%) compared to 1.4% in general population. Confirmed cases who are asymptomatic is about 25-50%, but nobody really knows and the number keeps changing.

Basically, thereare a lot of "unknowns." I think for healthcare workers, the odds of infection or death are much higher. As of 4/9, 100 doctors and 30 nursing staff died in Italy. These numbers are very significant.

I want to stress again...healthcare workers have zero financial protection once he or she dies. It's likely that, right now, the odds of dying as a healthcare worker is higher than that of a police officer or soldier. (In 2017, 12.9 per 100,000 law enforcement officers died on the job. The "most dangerous" job in the US has fatality rate of 0.1%.) But when police officers and soldiers die, their families are taken care of.

Will your families be taken care of? That's a calculation you have to make and take seriously.

[2Ask]

9 hours ago, Naturally Brilliant said:

No disrespect, but I think there's some self-selection bias in play here. The sickest Coronavirus sufferers are the ones who are going to be the hospitalized patients. For every patient in the hospital with Coronavirus, there's probably about ten times as many at home recuperating, in various stages of illness. The current mortality rate in the U.S. is about 3% to 4%:

That mortality rate is inaccurate because it is based on CONFIRMED cases. We cannot know the true mortality rate without knowing the true infection rate.

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But is that 3% infection ratio accurate, and if not, what is the real number? To understand this, we need to understand the difference between case fatality rate (CFR) and infection fatality rate (IFR). CFR is the ratio of the number of deaths divided by the number of confirmed (preferably by nucleic acid testing) cases of disease. IFR is the ratio of deaths divided by the number of actual infections with SARS-CoV-2. Because nucleic acid testing is limited and currently available primarily to people with significant indications of and risk factors for covid-19 disease, and because a large number of infections with SARS-CoV-2 result in mild or even asymptomatic disease, the IFR is likely to be significantly lower than the CFR. The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) at the University of Oxford currently estimates the CFR globally at 0.51%, with all the caveats pertaining thereto. CEBM estimates the IFR at 0.1% to 0.26%, with even more caveats pertaining thereto. https://www.virology.ws/2020/04/05/infection-fatality-rate-a-critical-missing-piece-for-managing-covid-19/

and https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/

[Naturally Brilliant, BSN, RN]

So the real mortality rate would be even lower because there's plenty of people who are asymptomatic or have such mild symptoms they're not going to bother getting tested (whether due to availability of the tests or personal choice).

[Naturally Brilliant, BSN, RN]

11 hours ago, theoneandonly said:

-LOL we didn't join the military. Nurses didn't sign up to die in a battlefield. We went to college, to get our degree and a job just like the rest of society. We didn't become nurses to go into a war zone. This isn't the military

Okay then, quit. You're right, nursing isn't the military. Nobody is forcing you to care for patients afflicted by Coronavirus or any other pathological condition. Nobody is going to court-martial you for desertion or even strip you of your nursing license if you don't want to do it. There's no "dishonorable discharge" here.

For the record, doctors, nurses, techs, and other healthcare staff have cared for patients worldwide with a whole host of communicable diseases, ranging from the common cold and the flu up to Marburg and Ebola. They did it voluntarily and based on the belief that they wanted to get these sick sufferers back to health, despite the personal risk.

If your mom or dad had (heaven forbid) Coronavirus and were hospitalized for it, I presume you'd want doctors and nurses who cared for your parent's recovery there and gave them the care and medical attention as they needed, rather than treating them like some sort of feral diseased animal best avoided (or a reason to quit work altogether).

[Sbhayes09, ADN, RN]

I've been working in a screening clinic and testing patients daily. On the ambulatory side of this coin, none of my co-workers or myself have contracted the virus. We also see the not so sick versions of patients. That being said we have sent a few to the ED and one by ambulance in the last month or so.

I'm sure it's terrible in the hospitals but if anyone wanted some insight into outside of acute care, there it is. Bad days and good days, young and old, but the majority have gone home and been fine. Still sucks to see those few that came to you guys then didn't make it though.