What happened to all the newly skilled experts in New York? I recall Cuomo saying if people helped New York, he’d return the favor.
He can send medical equipment (like ventilators) and PPE, and I’m sure there are selfless volunteers, but you can’t force skilled medical personnel to relocate across the country.
I remember Cuomo saying that. I don’t remember any stories of out of state people actually going and volunteering in New York.
Did he finish the sentence with “other than the 25,000 from out of state who volunteered”
If they had trouble connecting to New York it wasn’t their fault. The bottleneck belongs to Cuomo.
We set up war-time production of ventilators during those months. Barring any cite you may have that we don’t have a reserve when we expected a second wave it would logical that we have them in stock now. Also, we have the capacity to put 2 or more people on one ventilator so that doubles the supply anyone has now.
That’s an odd take. I would have thought most people could appreciate how difficult placing that many health professionals all at once in an emergency would be rather than blame it on the governor.
Why would we do that? That’s a terrible idea.
I do appreciate you broaching that idea, so that we could all see what a terrible idea it is, but it is in fact, something that you have just made up for no discernible reason.
Is that how you think it needs to be? Do you need a cop threaten to arrest you before you will wear a mask?
I am just saying, you are talking about making a massive mobilization of medical personal, transport infrastructure, and equipment much greater than ever seen outside of war time (and less than many wars.)
I do think that, rather than trying to make the argument that we will be just fine because we can transport patients from overcrowded areas to places that are not overcrowded yet, it would be much easier for everyone involved if you would just wear a mask.
Exactly.
While the outlook for intubated patients has improved since the early days of the pandemic, per this Washington Post article:
Far better to not get infected in the first place, and the most effective means we currently have to avoid getting infected are masks and social distancing.
Actually moving battalions of skilled health care workers across the country to hot spots as needed IS an excellent idea. Logistically and medicolegally there would be difficulties but nothing that Congress with Executive leadership could not power through. Not issues that one or each state governor can overcome but really it is something that would be nice to see. We have enough skilled workers given how this is occurring somewhat asynchronously across the country, if only we had the systems to get those across the country able and willing to do the work to where they are critically needed and to allow them to practice in those states. A functional Pandemic Response team would likely have developed such a plan …
Though I am wondering what kind of insane insurance paperwork someone will have to deal with after recovering.
Is insurance paying for the air transport? Are the doctors being moved all around part of your network?
If you do not have insurance, do you just get a 6 figure bill?
Yes but wearing masks is a statement from Captain Obvious. And I’m not making a statement that we’ll be fine. I responded to people who are saying we’re doomed because some of the hospitals will exceed capacity. That’s not the case.
I’ve been wearing a mask to box stores from day one. People argued that they had to be N-95 or they wouldn’t work. common sense said otherwise and a fair number of people put them on at grocery stores and drug stores.
My Governor is making masks mandatory this week but there isn’t any enforcement involved. That’s left up to box stores and govt agencies that have the leverage of licensing to enforce it. I’ve been going to a bar that can support well over 1000 people outside and the owner has taken steps to greatly reduce the numbers. But don’t expect masks at the bar. that’s just the way it is. If it becomes necessary the bars will be shut down again.
Could you point them out please? I heard people stating concerns about our hospital capacity, but not anyone who claimed that we were doomed.
It certainly did seem that, since the stated concern was that we needed to lower the infection rate, and your response was to say that we could move patients all over the country, that that was your solution, rather than working to lower the infection rate.
I’ve been wearing some sort of face covering since before the shutdown. I don’t know what “Day 1” is for you, but for me, it was March 23rd, and I started wearing a mask that one of my employees made for me a bit more than a week before.
Then we were shut down, and I didn’t wear it except when I went to the store, which was a once every 2 week thing.
Yeah, I feel bad about it, a good friend of mine is a bar owner, but bars are just not workable right now. Restaurants not much better.
Take out doesn’t really cut it, especially since most of the profit a restaurant makes is actually on alcohol sales.
In any case, Ohio BWC just sent me 100 cloth masks. Made in China.
It’s basically how we handle any other national emergency. When hurricanes hit the East Coast my state utility companies send equipment and manpower down. When we get hit with tornadoes the reverse happens. On a national level we can mobilize hard assets with relative ease.
The problem as I see it is the inability to reverse the ownership of regulations. My governor was able to remove state regulations that slowed things down. He was able to go to the federal side and ask that federal rules be expedited or set aside. We had someone in my area who was on her last legs and a doctor from another state was called in to consult. Within hours a drug he wanted to use was approved by the FDA by way of governor request to the FDA. If I remember correctly it took 3 hrs to get the approval.
But you can’t reverse the process.
I can’t tell what you mean by “reverse the process”. Do you mean reverse those actions? Because the FDA could certainly reverse their decision to allow a drug. I don’t see how a governor could remove state regulations without also being able to reinstate them.
Usually when hurricanes or tornadoes or fires hit a particular area the people who come out to deal with it haven’t just come off a long stretch dealing with hurricane damage in their home state, though. Nor are high percentages of the country usually flooded or on fire at the same time (though occasionally it does seem like it.)
Plus which – even if you can get enough emergency crews to deal with a disaster, who wants to have the disaster? It’s still a disaster!
And no, that doesn’t mean we’re all doomed. But more of us will be doomed if the hospitals exceed capacity than if they don’t.
When Hurricane Ivan hit, those of us in Ohio were without power for quite a while.
One of the reasons for that is that it hit Texas a few days before, and all the utility companies send their equipment and manpower down.
When it was still a hurricane hitting Ohio, we didn’t have that equipment and manpower here, so it took far longer to recover than otherwise.
I see it as the same thing. We are going to get hit in one region after the other, often times simultaneously. We cannot just move people and equipment around, as it may end up being needed where it was originally.
That’s…not how it works. Technically, you can rig a machine to supply two patients at once but those two patients now have to have the exact same respiration settings, just to start with reasons why this is not viable. In a do-or-die situation, it could possibly be done for a short time, until one patient needs the settings adjusted. Then what?
On Day One of the pandemic, we should have been recruiting thousands of people to serve as medics. Imagine putting volunteers without medical training through an intensive one-month program that would equip them with the basic skills needed to care for the average moderately ill COVID patient (under the supervision of a nurse or doctor). Volunteers with training and experience would be treated as medical officers. Medics would be deployed to hot spots for a minimum three-month term. Some folks would be stationed at pre-existing hospitals, some would be stationed at temporary field hospitals, and others would be dispatched to patient residences to help people who are in bad shape but not bad enough shape where they couldn’t be cared for at home with extra support. In exchange for this service, a medic would be entitled to veterans’ benefits and student loan forgiveness, at a minimum, plus room and board.
We need a Civilian Conservation Corps-level response to this thing. This isn’t a problem the free market can handle. We don’t just need government. We need super big government, especially if lockdowns are off the table.
You can actually chain more than 2 but that’s all I’ve seen certified in the US. The point is that we are far ahead of the issue than when this started. there is no reason for a shortage in ventilators.
That’s what you got out of my post? That you can actually rig more than two to one vent? You didn’t notice the part where I said it’s a stopgap that can’t be sustained without exact conditions for everyone attached? I give up.