covid-19

[Flixy]

Y'all conflate a lot of things but this is a marathon not a sprint. New cases have too many variables including: How accurate the testing is and how many people are being tested. Hospitalizations is more relevant but just a snapshot in time. Lockdowns obviously short term can reduce the spread of the disease however lockdowns lasting too long and you run into compliance issues. Especially restrictive lockdowns cause other problems such as worsening mental health, lower economic productivity and delayed medical treatment for other important procedures (such as regular screening, GP appointments, hell even teeth cleanings).

You do realize that medical treatment is delayed and impacted more if the hospitals are full than by a lockdown? Any lockdown allows regular hospital visits, GP appointments and dentist visits as far as I am aware. Hell, we have a 'lockdown' but I am donating blood , which is A-OK. As long as you don't have symptoms - so without a lockdown more people will be infected and fewer people will be allowed to donate (or visit the GP, etc.) to begin with. Plus with fewer people infected, sick leave among medical staff will be lower as well. So I call bullshit on the claim that a lockdown delays medical treatment, if anything it prevents delays.

[Lewkowski]

You do realize that medical treatment is delayed and impacted more if the hospitals are full than by a lockdown? Any lockdown allows regular hospital visits, GP appointments and dentist visits as far as I am aware. Hell, we have a 'lockdown' but I am donating blood , which is A-OK. As long as you don't have symptoms - so without a lockdown more people will be infected and fewer people will be allowed to donate (or visit the GP, etc.) to begin with. Plus with fewer people infected, sick leave among medical staff will be lower as well. So I call bullshit on the claim that a lockdown delays medical treatment, if anything it prevents delays.

To be honest given Texas not having lockdowns right now for the most part my perception can be skewed. But back in April/May we were absolutely having people delay medical visits and surgeries. I had to reschedule my dental appointment as well. And visiting the doctor is still a damn pain in the ass. Park. Call in. Go through the dumb covid questionnaire, wait, get told to come in. Get vitals checked and then doc stands at the opposite corner of the room. Its a pain and causes many people just to roll their eyes and not want to come in at all.

[Ominous Gamer]

To be honest given Texas not having lockdowns right now for the most part my perception can be skewed. But back in April/May we were absolutely having people delay medical visits and surgeries. I had to reschedule my dental appointment as well. And visiting the doctor is still a damn pain in the ass. Park. Call in. Go through the dumb covid questionnaire, wait, get told to come in. Get vitals checked and then doc stands at the opposite corner of the room. Its a pain and causes many people just to roll their eyes and not want to come in at all.

This has nothing to do with lockdowns and everything to do with a private business making their own decisions on how to stay operational during a pandemic. And your claims that "many" people will choose not visit their doctor because the doctor is taking precautions against a pandemic is both false and moronic.

You're seriously bitching that you don't get to use a doctor's waiting room during a pandemic. What the fuck is wrong with you?

[wiggin]

You do realize that medical treatment is delayed and impacted more if the hospitals are full than by a lockdown? Any lockdown allows regular hospital visits, GP appointments and dentist visits as far as I am aware. Hell, we have a 'lockdown' but I am donating blood , which is A-OK. As long as you don't have symptoms - so without a lockdown more people will be infected and fewer people will be allowed to donate (or visit the GP, etc.) to begin with. Plus with fewer people infected, sick leave among medical staff will be lower as well. So I call bullshit on the claim that a lockdown delays medical treatment, if anything it prevents delays.

My sister is the chief of staff of a large hospital in the Midwest. She anticipated and handled the first wave reasonably well, and has worked to keep her team and hospital in good shape for this winter. But the current wave is truly disheartening. Every day she is making decisions about delaying or canceling certain types of care in order to free up more resources for handling the massive surge of resource-intensive Covid patients. She's already had cases where poor patient outcomes now have been blamed on insufficient provision of care during the first wave; she is well aware that the knock-on effects of the current wave are going to be far more severe (and we all know that the doctors are going to be blamed for this because it's much less satisfying to blame a more nebulous 'society' for going to bars and not exercising adequate social distancing/PPE). She's making these decisions, and trying to keep up the spirits of her employees, and working to make sure there are adequate resources... but I spoke to her yesterday, and I can tell it's getting to be too much. And, frankly, there is no end in sight. We won't have substantial vaccination coverage until spring at the earliest.

When she drives home each day and sees people out and about ignoring even the most basic of precautions that are currently the recommendations in her state... she finds it quite frustrating, as do her colleagues. An actual attempt by people to observe more distancing, whether in the context of a formal lockdown or not, would dramatically increase her ability to provide potentially lifesaving care to people who do not have Covid.