Lostin76

This is actually not fearmongering. It's happening here in NYC. I work at the School of Medicine for a major university here in NYC. There is protocol. But there is also the reality of how many runs our first responders can physically make in a day. It might be different where you live, but here in NYC right now, it's different. Protocols are important but becoming much more flexible. We would love to follow all recommendations to the T, but it's just not possible right now.

The problem with premature openings is a possible second wave even worse than the first. Which would result in even more economic damage. This is really a bad situation for states to be in.

This was long overdue. Adding the probable deaths that were not able to be tested makes sense. The number of people dying in their homes in NYC has been roughly 10 times per day over normal (just over 200 per day instead of 20-25). When the EMTs have been arriving the patients are already dead and as families describe the symptoms it's obviously COVID-19. Our first responders have unfortunately become experts at this as they are doing almost nothing but COVID-19 calls constantly. And then there's this heartbreaking piece: "To alleviate pressure on hospitals, last week the council that oversees emergency responders told paramedics and EMTs to try to revive a person whose heart has stopped beating in the field. If they can’t do so, the person is not taken to a hospital for further care." How do they explain that to a loved one or family member on the scene? The thing that's not being tracked is how many people are dying at home of other causes that would normally get quicker help. We will most likely try to get a handle on that number when this is all over. My boss is starting to look at how survivors are fairing in the months after infection. We think that's going to be an important bit of knowledge as we move forward.

Goats in Welsh Town Running Free

That's one of them. They had two dosage levels. And I'm not blaming a drug or anything. I'm also not desperately clinging to a questionable treatment. I sincerely hope it can offer relief, but not at the expense of unnecessary death. I think I've mentioned that our department is doing a big clinical trial with it as a prophylaxis for exposed cases. We want it to work, but there is not enough data. And the real data we have so far? It's not great.

A second clinical trial has now been stopped early b/c of cardiac deaths from hydroxychloroquine. Also this from a doctor: "Patients with lupus, arthritis, other conditions are *already* on hydroxychloroquine. And we are diagnosing them with covid19 LEFT AND RIGHT "

We are getting crazy winds here in Brooklyn this morning. I had to bring in some flowers and plants that I planted over the weekend, b/c they were being battered to death. Was texting with my Dad who lives in Southern Indiana and he was out working all weekend b/c of weather. He has been a lineman all his life and now supervises crews.

It's so easy for us to spend time blaming governors and the federal government after the fact to score political points. It's also not that helpful. This is a good reminder. There will be plenty of time after this is all over to see what a catastrophic failure this was on so many levels, both governmental and societal. Now is a good time to take care of ourselves and each other. It's easy for me to get annoyed at a post by @mrflynn03 that I may disagree with, but I also have to realize that I'm sitting at home safe and still receiving a paycheck (my wife is too), while his wife is forced to stop working. We are all coming at this from different directions and being affected differently b/c of our own situations and geographic locations.

Yep, got the same email from USAA. I'll take it since I haven't really needed to use our car but once since this started.

Texts from my Father in Elmhurst Hospital, Queens

This makes me happy. I can totally picture it.

Lots of opinions about this and if we may be over-reacting. This is the reality on the ground here though, so it's difficult for me to see your sides in this. "The surge of critically ill COVID-19 patients has now given way to a crush of bodies that has overwhelmed hospital morgues, fleets of additional refrigeration trucks, and the funeral homes and crematoriums meant to help loved ones find some form of closure. More than 1,500 people died in a 48-hour period in New York City this week, according to the city Health Department. That still fails to capture the full extent of the crisis, as city officials are still not releasing numbers of probable COVID-19 deaths where tests were not conducted. At one hospital in Queens, a physician who oversees an intensive care unit said the hospital was struggling to find places to put the dead."

There's a lot of recency bias in reporting. People tend to think or feel that what's happening now is more serious, more important, or more severe. Does it make it right, but it is something that happens. Interesting thing about the Hong Kong Flu in 1968 - it was in two waves. The second was more severe than the first.

We owned a condo down on Mass Ave and now we rent here in Brooklyn. We are not in a high rise - on top floor of a modest four floor building. And the crazy thing is that our neighborhood in Brooklyn is much, much quieter and chill than living in Indy. It's like Mayberry here in Prospect Heights. That's why I love Brooklyn so much.

Mile, you raise an important point. I absolutely HATE the Indy Star. I can't read any IU articles from it. It's useless to me unless I subscribe. And I lived in downtown Indy for years, but that paper is dead to me b/c of all of the annoying ads and the strict paywall. And I appreciate you not taking my post personally. I'm pretty partial to the Midwest and my upbringing, so I'm very sensitive to East Coasters trashing or dismissing the rest of the country. We are all in this together no matter where we live!

You are right. That's an important point. It's also just impossibly to know here, b/c of our lack of testing. I'm actually kind of hoping that many more of us have had it or have it and not fallen sick. That would make our death rate much lower.

Jealous of their trends and numbers. They are doing really well. Also impressed with the governor of Montana. I read an interview this morning with him in the NYT. They are handling things really well. It's impressive.

Mile, that's just not true. I've been a subscriber to NYT for over a decade. They routinely cover the entire world, including the Midwest and the South. If anything they are light on local coverage for those of us who live in NYC. That's one of the frustrating things for us as NYT subscribers. We have to read Gothamist, or the NY Post to get local news - it's weird. Just a quick search for the term "rural" gives me over a dozen articles in the last week from the NYT about how COVID-19 is affecting rural areas. Some really good articles too. The article about the funeral in GA was especially well done. I'm an Indiana kid. Born in IN, raised in IN, graduated HS in IN, and also graduated from IU Bloomington. I know there's this sense that the east coast doesn't care about the rest of the country, but it's not the case in reality. Hell, many of us that live here are from the Midwest! I'm not going to argue about the media on here though, b/c I know we can't do politics. It's just sad that the number of actual people who are dying (these are real people with families) are starting to be used to score political points. We as a country failed to get a jump on this and we will be the country with the most cases and deaths when this is all over. This is disheartening to me as we have the resources for the opposite outcome.

From the NYT this morning: Undercounting COVID-19 Deaths

The idea that hospitals are inflating the number of cases to get more money is just conspiracy theory twaddle. I'm ashamed that we actually have politicians of the stripe that would stoop to this and websites that would try to spread such trash AND profit off of it. If anything COVID-19 deaths are actually being under reported. Our leadership is DESPERATELY looking for less COVID-19 deaths. It's all we think about - are there less admissions/deaths, etc? It's the most important thing in the world right now to see cases drop, not rise. We are losing so much money by cancelling elective services and regular appointments that we just want this to flatten out or disappear.

Admissions are plateauing here in NYC for our institution - we have three hospitals. We are holding steady around 1,500 positive patients admitted, but about 23% of those are intubated and on ventilators. That's a lot. So many medical staffers from other areas have been pulled to ICUs and makeshift units. It's basically all hands on deck right now, but we are hopeful that the admissions stay flat for a bit. Deaths are still increasing however - up to 779 in NY state reported today. It seems like the shelter in place is working, so hopefully people won't see encouraging numbers and then change their behavior. I think we will see the hotspot attention shifting away from NYC, and the South will really start to peak in the next couple of weeks.

Nice one, Archie! And welcome to the IU family, Logan! Think we all needed some good news!

Thanks, Mile. Didn't want to annoy people.

A couple updates from Brooklyn (if these are irrelevant to people, please let me know and I'll zip it, but everyone I know is always asking about things here, so I thought I would share.) First a good update: every night at 7pm, people have been coming out to the terraces and balconies to clap, yell, and make noise for about 3-5 minutes as a thank you to medical personnel. Our outdoor space is sacred and it's neat to see (and hear) so many people from our terrace making noise together. Now, a bad update: we live within walking distance of an ultra-orthodox Jewish population. Many people in that neighborhood are still having large gatherings and religious events. The top photo in the link below is from a funeral Sunday night (the funeral was for someone who died of COVID-19). It's kind of terrifying that people are still gathering like this and it's not going to end well. Hasidic Funeral Crowds in Brooklyn Neighborhoods

Yep, we are all trying to figure out this new paradigm. Heck, I think scientists are struggling with this one.