2020 Dumpster Fire (Enter at your own risk)

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

Just now, Oxbow6 said:

LOL at 4th Wave "burnout."  As a healthy, moderate consumer in a low-impact area, this thing has had me charred crispy since mid-March.

[Oxbow6]

Tried to adjust size so wasn't so fuzzy....sorry.

[Cratter]

8 minutes ago, keikla said:

The biggest issues have been more about staffing and medication supply to handle the patient surge.

I keep seeing article after article about medical staff furloughs all over the country.

[Oxbow6]

1 minute ago, keikla said:

I like how this depicts the different issues, but I wish there was a way to show how tied together and interdependent the different waves are.  

Isn't that what the waves depict?

[UNDlaw80]

36 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

Please expound on this.......

The typical American reflects the average. These protesters collectively do not.  These people, by and large, are white and are politically like-minded.  They are a subsection of America.  

But as I already said, the more this drags out the chances of people from all walks of life "aka the typical American" resorting to protest will increase.  

 

[Cratter]

Put medical staff back to work....heighten the curve! 

[Oxbow6]

5 minutes ago, UNDlaw80 said:

The typical American reflects the average. These protesters collectively do not.  These people, by and large, are white and are politically like-minded.  They are a subsection of America.  

But as I already said, the more this drags out the chances of people from all walks of life "aka the typical American" resorting to protest will increase.  

 

Again not to make this political but half of America either falls right or left. There is no typical or average American. Any poll on any political topic bears this out. So you don't have to walk something back next time don't start your point with "MAGA......"

[Cratter]

Warning:

This is not an Onion article.

Experts say it may be time for grocery stores to ban customers from coming inside.

[Cratter]

Come Read All About it.

Come get your daily #fearporn:

Our view: When will Greater Grand Forks get serious about the coronavirus pandemic?

Quote

An employee, among customers, sneeze on a product and seemingly not care.

“No masks, no gloves. All of a sudden, a huge sneeze comes out of him,” he said. “I almost got into it with him, but figured it wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Quote

A single pen was used for signatures on receipts, without being sanitized between use.

 

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

5 minutes ago, Cratter said:

Warning:

This is not an Onion article.

Experts say it may be time for grocery stores to ban customers from coming inside.

How does one order bananas that are "not too many, not too few, not too green, not too yellow, and not too bruised" and not get the rest of their food spat upon (or worse)?

[Cratter]

1 minute ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

How does one order bananas that are "not too many, not too few, not too green, not too yellow, and not too bruised" and not get the rest of their food spat upon (or worse)?

How you know they wont sneeze when carrying them curbside or delivery?

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

4 minutes ago, Cratter said:

Come Read All About it.

Come get your daily #fearporn:

Our view: When will Greater Grand Forks get serious about the coronavirus pandemic?

It's mildly amusing that people are ratting out their neighbors as 'virus deniers.' Wouldn't the better play be just to let natural selection take over and rid the community of us undesirables while the fearful remain safely tucked in their basements?

[UNDlaw80]

5 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

Again not to make this political but half of America either falls right or left. There is no typical or average American. Any poll on any political topic bears this out. So you don't have to walk something back next time don't start your point with "MAGA......"

 I wouldn't say the discussion is political if trying to assess the make-up of these rally goers.  It's important to ascertain where we are as a nation.   

Hardcore MAGA supporters do not represent the typical Republican, let alone the average American.  These people are a subsection of society, extreme in their views.       

These 'freedom rallies' are the equivalent of far-left professionally organized protests, or protests attended by members of Antifa.   None of this ridiculousness, left or right leaning, represents the average American on either side of the isle.   

    

 

    

 

 

[802Sioux]

Just to speak to the rip the Band Aid off now idea. I’m a clerk/secretary on an inpatient hospital floor. Our particular state has plenty of beds right now. We have staff. What procurement can’t get are bleach wipes.  Our ability to get Disicide has been hit and miss. After we can’t get that we’ll move onto a third option. When that dries up I’m not sure what the plan is. It’s one thing to expect health care workers to face danger. It’s another thing for society to turn it’s back on their part of the deal. If we can’t put bleach wipes in our hospitals it might not be time to open up the gates and let it rip. Add to that list masks, face shields, meds and all the basic gear

[iramurphy]

2 hours ago, keikla said:

The current situation definitely isn't a long term option.  Is there a difference in billable services for outpatient telemedicine versus in-office visits? (maybe @yzerman19 knows). Are there outpatient specialties that have been shut down completely but could feasibly be running via telemed for the time being? I used zoom with my PCP last week.  Granted, I wish I could have had labs done, but it was still better than the office being completely closed.  I would think the overhead is cheaper with telemed than in-office.

Conversely, how do you safely implement something that can't be done via telemed and usually requires close contact like physical therapy?  Do you symptom check everyone at the door and have everyone wear masks?  Most physical therapists I know have several patient visits going concurrently, so they would have to be sanitizing or switching gloves constantly.  Or do you not implement any sort of guidelines and just hope for the best?

While many issues related to reducing restrictions will have to be decided on a local level, healthcare is one that may need a more national approach, as all hospitals share the same supply pool.  How do you get hospitals and other healthcare systems, like ambulatory surgery centers, back up and running in areas that can afford to without giving a huge middle finger to those who are in crisis mode?  Our hospital is currently spending roughly 80 hrs of manpower per week solely on drug procurement.  And even then, we've had to rely on drug donations from humanitarian organizations to help us get through.  With the biggest shortage medications needed for covid patients also being the ones used for surgery, I'm not sure how that part (the money making portion) of healthcare can get back up and running yet.

Verbal visits are charged $15-25. The Visual/virtual visits are charged the same as the office visit. None of my virtual visits have lasted more than 20 minutes. (99213)  Most of the clinic visits are 25-30 minutes (99214). Almost none of the virtual visits involve any physical.  So although they are paid the same, revenues are down. Physical therapists are also doing virtual visits but can’t do modalities nor anything with equipment. In Minnesota the Governor doesn’t allow elective surgeries and Ortho Surgeon are doing very little so some specialties are suffering more than others. Lots a patients are canceling appointments. Most of my colleagues claim revenues down 70%. Once our supplies are replenished, our surgeons should be able to resume their outpatient procedures, but many patients will still postpone due to fears. 
Our clinics will close when we are needed in hospital or ER. Once the surge is over, I suspect it may be similar to starting a new practice with the advantage you have already a foundation of patients who have been seeing you prior to the crisis. 

[iramurphy]

49 minutes ago, keikla said:

Yes, this is means being able to have meds ready for multiple expansive covid surges in addition to regular use for surgeries for unaffected areas.  That means manufacturers need to get enough raw material as well as the capacity to manufacturer.  Unfortunately, the source of raw materials is considered to be proprietary information of each individual manufacturer, so we really have absolutely no idea how dependent we are on various countries.  I know a lot of raw materials come from China, which is now a supply chain issue.  India has already banned several materials from being exported to the US, so that may be a contributing issue.  Propofol is primarily from Italy, which is why that shortage is a double whammy of increased need and decreased supply.

That is why our health care organizations are struggling. It is the chaos that you and you colleagues face in uncharted waters with no true compass vs the rural areas and others where we have shut everything down in anticipation of what’s to come. I hope that we as a profession and as a country reassess having to rely on other countries for critical supplies and equipment 

[southpaw]

7 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

Again not to make this political but half of America either falls right or left. There is no typical or average American. Any poll on any political topic bears this out. So you don't have to walk something back next time don't start your point with "MAGA......"

I would consider the 80% of people who are in favor of the national stay-at-home order for non-essential employees as part of the average American.

 

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

2 hours ago, southpaw said:

I would consider the 80% of people who are in favor of the national stay-at-home order for non-essential employees as part of the average American.

 

Unfortunately, you won’t get nearly that much agreement on what “essential” means.

[Oxbow6]

27 minutes ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

Unfortunately, you won’t get nearly that much agreement on what “essential” means.

Correct. Plus that poll was from a timeframe that ended 2 weeks ago. That's when being in locked down, eating Chinese takeout and being out of work was fresh and exciting. Kind of like polling married couples of 15+ years on marriage after just the first 12 months.

[Oxbow6]

From a CNN.com article dated 3/31....three weeks ago. I'd put money on that % increase in demand is higher now.

[southpaw]

21 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

Correct. Plus that poll was from a timeframe that ended 2 weeks ago. That's when being in locked down, eating Chinese takeout and being out of work was fresh and exciting. Kind of like polling married couples of 15+ years on marriage after just the first 12 months.

I intentionally chose to use a Fox News poll, as I assumed it would be better received by some here.

Here's an NBC/Wall Street Joural poll that was released yesterday (was conductedfrom 13th-15th of April):

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6842659-200203-NBCWSJ-April-Poll-4-19-20-Release.html

[Siouxphan27]

They should conduct a poll asking if people think polling is essential. 

[Oxbow6]

27 minutes ago, southpaw said:

I intentionally chose to use a Fox News poll, as I assumed it would be better received by some here.

Here's an NBC/Wall Street Joural poll that was released yesterday (was conductedfrom 13th-15th of April):

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6842659-200203-NBCWSJ-April-Poll-4-19-20-Release.html

That makes more sense. Hopefully they'll repeat this identical same poll for the date ending 4/29. I'll put money on the 58% number will be less than 50%.

[Oxbow6]

6 minutes ago, Siouxphan27 said:

They should conduct a poll asking if people think COVID modeling is essential. 

FYP

[Nodak78]

https://medium.com/@yinonweiss/coronavirus-shutdown-effectiveness-visualized-part-2-1a6e7b97649d