200,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US (so far)

[NewRN'16, ADN, RN]

And some still don't believe it is a real disease. Or that it will affect them or their loved ones ..

"200,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US. That's more than the US battle deaths from 5 wars combined"

"Covid-19 is now the second-leading cause of death in the US, just after heart disease, according to the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/22/health/us-coronavirus-deaths-200k/index.html

 

As someone who has worked with Covid patients and has seen the suffering and loss of life, I can't wrap my head around the public ignorance!! One shouldn't need to work in medical field to understand how dangerous this virus is. A quick look at the stats makes it perfectly clear! 

Sorry for venting, I'm just so frustrated. Especially when I hear POTUS saying they're "doing a good job at handling this" and encouraging bars and schools to open back up!! What are they thinking really?

Also, the CDC admitting it is an airborne virus (we all knew that) then going back and retracting what they said?? Obviously a whistleblower leaked that official CDC update. Why are they covering up the reality? So even more people will die? 

 

[macawake, MSN]

3 hours ago, NewRN'16 said:

Also, the CDC admitting it is an airborne virus (we all knew that) then going back and retracting what they said?? Obviously a whistleblower leaked that official CDC update. Why are they covering up the reality? So even more people will die? 

I’m not sure what you mean that we all know that SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne virus?  I don’t think that the virus is airborne in the classic sense (think measles). While there is still a lot that we don’t know about this virus, from what we’ve seen so far, its reproduction number is relatively low. I interpret that as airborne transmission in all likelihood not being the dominating mode. 

However it does appear to sometimes spread in a kind of ”random” manner and we’ve seen clusters and superspreader events. I still believe that it’s droplet/contact transmission that’s driving the pandemic. But that’s not the same as saying that airborne transmission isn’t possible under a certain set of circumstances. 

More research needs to take place. To prove that airborne transmission is common, you need more evidence than simply measuring that people can produce aerosols as well as droplets while for example talking, coughing or singing. 

Listen, I understand that it’s easy to become exhausted from the constant barrage of information regarding the pandemic and healthcare workers like yourself who have seen the suffering this pandemic has caused firsthand, likely have an increased risk of burnout/emotional overload. But I want to caution you not to spread suspicions like the ”CDC covering up reality”, unless you have absolute proof that’s actually happening. The publics trust in institutions like the CDC is vital in times like these. I don’t necessarily take their every word as gospel, but they are in my opinion an overall trustworthy institution. I would need some really substantial evidence in order to believe that they were deliberately attempting to hide information that could/would save countless human lives. 
 

Take care OP!

 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I am a bit frustrated with the CDC retracting their statements about it being an airborne illness.  I think good research and the scientific community has been pointing this direction and for them to publish it and then quickly take it back does make it suspicious that there is either some political pressure.   But since it isn't 100% certain it does make you wonder why they published it in the first place.  

I keep telling people that believe it's an "election infection" or that people are engaging in "fear mongering for a disease that doesn't affect that much of the population and with a low rate of death" to listen to the CDC and then this.

200,000 is a grim milestone and is a reflection of so many things about our culture here in the US.

[MarthaMyDear]

When POTUS says we need to open things up, exactly how long do we keep everything shutdown?  How many people suffer and commit suicide or put off going to ER due to fears of COVID?   How many people lose their homes and businesses before we ‘open up’?  How many people die of colon cancer due to inability get a colonoscopy?   

 

Its easy for people with well-paying jobs to say “shut everything down!”.   Not everyone works in a hospital and makes a good salary.   We have families with one breadwinner who MUST work and many other situations.

 

Tired of working nurses and doctors griping about opening businesses and ignoring calls of people who are suffering from the long term damage of unemployment and business closure! 

[GrumpyRN, NP]

21 hours ago, MarthaMyDear said:

When POTUS says we need to open things up, exactly how long do we keep everything shutdown?  How many people suffer and commit suicide or put off going to ER due to fears of COVID?   How many people lose their homes and businesses before we ‘open up’?  How many people die of colon cancer due to inability get a colonoscopy?   

 

Its easy for people with well-paying jobs to say “shut everything down!”.   Not everyone works in a hospital and makes a good salary.   We have families with one breadwinner who MUST work and many other situations.

 

Take a look at the UK, we opened up a bit and now we have increasing numbers of cases - especially in younger people. So yeah, go ahead, open everything up but make sure you have plenty of capacity in your hospitals for the inevitable upsurge/second wave.

 

 

21 hours ago, MarthaMyDear said:

Tired of working nurses and doctors griping about opening businesses and ignoring calls of people who are suffering from the long term damage of unemployment and business closure! 

Working nurses and doctors are the ones at the sharp end of this pandemic so have every right to complain.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

6 hours ago, GrumpyRN said:

Take a look at the UK, we opened up a bit and now we have increasing numbers of cases - especially in younger people. So yeah, go ahead, open everything up but make sure you have plenty of capacity in your hospitals for the inevitable upsurge/second wave.

 

 

Working nurses and doctors are the ones at the sharp end of this pandemic so have every right to complain.

Grumpy you rock!

Reposting because you said it was more eloquently than I could

[MunoRN, RN]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:16 AM, MarthaMyDear said:

When POTUS says we need to open things up, exactly how long do we keep everything shutdown?  How many people suffer and commit suicide or put off going to ER due to fears of COVID?   How many people lose their homes and businesses before we ‘open up’?  How many people die of colon cancer due to inability get a colonoscopy?   

 

Its easy for people with well-paying jobs to say “shut everything down!”.   Not everyone works in a hospital and makes a good salary.   We have families with one breadwinner who MUST work and many other situations.

 

Tired of working nurses and doctors griping about opening businesses and ignoring calls of people who are suffering from the long term damage of unemployment and business closure! 

The biggest risk to the workers you're attempting to advocate for is the full lockdown that becomes necessary when let Covid cases get out of hand as a result of unwisely backing off on mitigation measures.

We could instead just let the spread do it's thing without mitigation measures, which even Trump's own preferred data predicts would result in about 2 million US deaths.  The reason why, despite knowing the likely results, he's promoting "opening back up" is that he knows there's no likelihood we'll actually do that.

And the predicted deaths aren't even the worst part in terms of the economy since to go along with those 2 million deaths there would be about 10 to 20 million new cases of severe chronic heart failure and renal failure, adding around $1.5 trillion to our national healthcare costs, which would easily implode our economy. 

I don't think there's anyone who disagrees that it would be better to not have to use the measures we're currently using.  But it's pretty clear that not doing that wouldn't solve any of the problems you're pointing to, it would only make them far worse.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

We will have a Dr. Mengele's laboratory opened  in Florida this week to provide what a future of open will look like - especially when one opens while ICU's are strained; many at capacity.  The is NO escaping the fact that a a viral pandemic is going to cause a LOT of pain.  Our country, along with just about any other country in the world, will suffer severe economic consequences and opening up will probably make it worst because we will have medical expenses to pay for along with sickened doctors and nurses.  Somebody, please, show me how to pick up a turd by the clean end or isolate your pee in a swimming pool!

  This is just the way we have to live until a vaccine is out and even then, we have no idea yet how long will it last so it's gonna be a long time before we are back to normal.  I can't imagine that Ron Desantis could even be elected dog catcher.

 

 

 

[Kitiger, RN]

I fear Florida is going to surge again, by Halloween.

[Kitiger, RN]

1 hour ago, subee said:

  Somebody, please, show me how to pick up a turd by the clean end or isolate your pee in a swimming pool!

Use gloves to pick up the turd, and stay away from the swimming pool.  

If I thought the majority of people would stay home when sick, wear masks, wash their hands, don't touch their face with unclean hands, social distance, etc., then states could open up.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

I guess that growing up in a nation that gave us all the good fortune that we had growing up here has also made is a nation of weaklings who can't tolerate any discomfort regardless of what our pleasure seeking does for others.  However, I do have sympathy for people who have to go to work and expose themselves to morons.  I still can't believe that this fool is going to open up when cases are still so high.  Yes, I get it that people are literally going bonkers but how were we ever going to get through this without supporting each other instead of hurting each other?

 

 

[ramboRN, RN]

Since A common Cold is a Sars virus and picked up on the tests, How many cases are just colds and not the covid19 virus? CDC also says that a small percentage of deaths are actually covi19 deaths. Deaths are reported as cases,  even though they test positive and die of other things. So could those positives be colds, another thing that I have questions about . That there is a Financial Advantage for deaths to be listed as covid19 involved. Does this advantage cause some smudging of the numbers? Just Asking.