27 votes

"No one is listening to us": More people than ever are hospitalized with COVID-19. Health-care workers can’t go on like this.

Posted by spit-evil-olive-tips
Tags: healthcare, usa, hospitals, doctors, coronaviruses.covid19, author.ed yong, source.the atlantic, long read, paywall.soft
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/11/third-surge-breaking-healthcare-workers/617091/

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Title
'No One Is Listening to Us'
Authors
Ed Yong
Published
Nov 13 2020
Word count
3028 words

7 comments

  1. rkcr
    Link
    It's frustrating because a lot of us are listening and doing our best, but there is such a sizeable portion of the population who isn't being careful.

    It's frustrating because a lot of us are listening and doing our best, but there is such a sizeable portion of the population who isn't being careful.

    9 votes
  2. [4]
    snazz
    Link
    Does anyone know where I can find some hard data (maybe another ArcGIS dashboard) showing hospital utilization? News articles from across the political spectrum paint very different pictures of...

    Does anyone know where I can find some hard data (maybe another ArcGIS dashboard) showing hospital utilization? News articles from across the political spectrum paint very different pictures of how well the healthcare system is holding up, so I'm finding it hard to find a balanced perspective. I'm not denying that any of the perspectives in left-wing news sources like The Atlantic are valid—just that I would like irrefutable data as well.

    Compared to case numbers, hospital usage should be very accurate data with little error potential. Why do news articles like this one always seem to cite anecdotes from epidemiologists, hospitals, and universities instead of hard data from centralized authorities like state health departments?

    I found one dashboard which shows about 50% hospital bed utilization across the US. How accurate does that seem?

    7 votes
    1. skybrian
      Link Parent
      According to this article from a few days ago, it’s complicated, since often the limiting factor isn’t beds but available staff, so capacity is a bit fuzzy....

      According to this article from a few days ago, it’s complicated, since often the limiting factor isn’t beds but available staff, so capacity is a bit fuzzy.

      https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/10/933253317/covid-19-hospitalizations-are-surging-where-are-hospitals-reaching-capacity

      5 votes
    2. [2]
      MonkeyPants
      Link Parent
      Each state publishes it's own statistics, Texas has 69,821 Total Staffed Hospital Beds, but it only has 11,112 available hospital beds, and 7,151 COVID hospitalizations. Your dashboard lists...

      Each state publishes it's own statistics, Texas has 69,821 Total Staffed Hospital Beds, but it only has 11,112 available hospital beds, and 7,151 COVID hospitalizations. Your dashboard lists 71,848 staffed beds and "47.7% Average Bed Utilization Rate" which is either completely misleading or completely off.

      Florida and Rhode Island don't appear to publish hospital capacity, so I imagine your dashboard has its own way of gathering data?

      5 votes
      1. snazz
        Link Parent
        I figured that the dashboard I found was misleading, given the lower-than-expected values that clearly didn’t take a few variables into account. Thanks for the details!

        I figured that the dashboard I found was misleading, given the lower-than-expected values that clearly didn’t take a few variables into account. Thanks for the details!

        1 vote
  3. spit-evil-olive-tips
    Link

    In the imminent future, patients will start to die because there simply aren’t enough people to care for them. Doctors and nurses will burn out. The most precious resource the U.S. health-care system has in the struggle against COVID-19 isn’t some miracle drug. It’s the expertise of its health-care workers—and they are exhausted.

    6 votes
  4. Parliament
    Link
    My sister-in-law is a nurse practitioner (US), and her posts on social media are just escalating versions of the same exasperated message about wearing a mask, staying home, etc. She is scared and...

    My sister-in-law is a nurse practitioner (US), and her posts on social media are just escalating versions of the same exasperated message about wearing a mask, staying home, etc. She is scared and angry.

    6 votes