COVID19

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Re: COVID19

Post by moderne »

Masking is still an important tool even if you are vax. Cruise ships require vaccination and masking in public areas, except while eating drinking. The eating and drinking is probably where contagion occurs. Breakthrough cases still numerous on cruise ships. Everyone hates masks.
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AlkaliAxel
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Re: COVID19

Post by AlkaliAxel »

Goonies wrote: Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:15 am I'm surprised KC doesnt have a mask mandate
I think it all changed after those November elections last month. That was around the time when most cities dropped them after that red wave, and I don't think they can go back now. I'm guessing they're all worried about the 2022 elections.
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Re: COVID19

Post by ericwyner »

AlkaliAxel wrote: Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:31 am
Goonies wrote: Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:15 am I'm surprised KC doesnt have a mask mandate
I think it all changed after those November elections last month. That was around the time when most cities dropped them after that red wave, and I don't think they can go back now. I'm guessing they're all worried about the 2022 elections.
the places that had them won't vote Republican in 2022, but it was Democrats who joined in to repeal them
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Re: COVID19

Post by FangKC »

Doctors: Kansas City's hospital capacity is maxed out as COVID-19 cases surge
Doctors are making a plea to Kansas City: Don't visit the emergency room for COVID-19 testing or for minor problems. They don't have room.
...
Emergency rooms across the Saint Luke's Health System are packed. COVID-19 cases and other emergencies are pushing the system to its limit. Doctors now fear patients could die waiting to be admitted.
...
There just aren't beds available here or anywhere else in the hospitals.
...
"This is hands down the toughest surge the medical community has had to face since the pandemic began in 2020," said Dr. Steven Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System.
...
Hospitals across the metro are also reporting record numbers of staff out sick with COVID-19. At the University of Kansas Health System, it is 640 people.
...
https://www.kmbc.com/article/kansas-cit ... e/38678092
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Re: COVID19

Post by im2kull »

FangKC wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:11 pm Doctors: Kansas City's hospital capacity is maxed out as COVID-19 cases surge
Doctors are making a plea to Kansas City: Don't visit the emergency room for COVID-19 testing or for minor problems. They don't have room.
...
Emergency rooms across the Saint Luke's Health System are packed. COVID-19 cases and other emergencies are pushing the system to its limit. Doctors now fear patients could die waiting to be admitted.
...
There just aren't beds available here or anywhere else in the hospitals.
...
"This is hands down the toughest surge the medical community has had to face since the pandemic began in 2020," said Dr. Steven Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System.
...
Hospitals across the metro are also reporting record numbers of staff out sick with COVID-19. At the University of Kansas Health System, it is 640 people.
...
https://www.kmbc.com/article/kansas-cit ... e/38678092
Don't post this shit propaganda that's full of blatantly misleading statements, and flat out lies. It shouldn't be spread. Stop falling for these fear mongering, knee jerk hoping articles. Two seconds on the MARC Covid data hub will show you that the area hospitals are right where they should be.. at their historic averages dating all the way back to the 1940s. American hospitals are for-profit any way you slice it. It costs them to have empty beds, so they usually run 80%. Currently there's 1,469 available beds in the area. That's actually better than average. 30% availability. Only 18% of all beds are being used by Covid patients.. many of which are chronic patients. So no, to quote the idiot in the article.. they "Don't have room" is a flat out lie.

https://marc2.org/covidhub/
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AllThingsKC
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Re: COVID19

Post by AllThingsKC »

FangKC wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:11 pm Doctors: Kansas City's hospital capacity is maxed out as COVID-19 cases surge
Odd. Somehow ER wait times are normal across the metro:

https://hcamidwest.com/patients-and-vis ... -times.dot
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Re: COVID19

Post by DaveKCMO »

Regardless of what's happening in hospitals, this wave is a very big deal. People who have even mild COVID (which is still very contagious) can't perform essential jobs like driving a bus or packing an Amazon box until they are cleared to return to work. The sheer volume of cases and quarantines is enough to cause entire companies to grind to a halt.
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Re: COVID19

Post by FangKC »

im2kull wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:41 am
FangKC wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:11 pm Doctors: Kansas City's hospital capacity is maxed out as COVID-19 cases surge
Don't post this shit propaganda that's full of blatantly misleading statements, and flat out lies. It shouldn't be spread. Stop falling for these fear mongering, knee jerk hoping articles. Two seconds on the MARC Covid data hub will show you that the area hospitals are right where they should be.. at their historic averages dating all the way back to the 1940s. American hospitals are for-profit any way you slice it. It costs them to have empty beds, so they usually run 80%. Currently there's 1,469 available beds in the area. That's actually better than average. 30% availability. Only 18% of all beds are being used by Covid patients.. many of which are chronic patients. So no, to quote the idiot in the article.. they "Don't have room" is a flat out lie.

https://marc2.org/covidhub/
Your link takes one to November 2021 information. The surge came after the Christmas holiday when exposure resulted in people showing symptoms three to seven days later.

This link shows a different story.

https://preparemetrokc.org/covid-19-hig ... -01-05-22/
COVID-19 highlights for the week of 01/05/2022:

What’s Happening?

Hospitals and EMS are strained from a dramatic increase in COVID-19, resulting in:
Increased emergency room wait times and limited capability to treat patients in hospitals
Increased difficulty transferring critical patients
Limited capacity to accept new and treat existing patients due to bed and staffing limitations

This burden on the health care system is further compounded by the number of open staff positions and the numbers of staff who are absent due to COVID and Influenza.

A 5-fold increase in number of patients who expired in Emergency Departments waiting for transfer in the state of Kansas [Source].

Positivity rates have increased sharply. This represents the percent tests reported that show a positive result as recorded by local public health. At-home tests are often not included in these numbers.

Limited testing availability in hospitals, public health departments, and other sites including retail stores selling at-home test kits.

The President’s Emergency Declarations for COVID-19 remain in effect for both Kansas and Missouri.

Neither Kansas nor Missouri has active state-level Emergency Declarations for COVID-19.

What Can I Expect?

High overall hospital volume, together with staff shortages, is threatening standards of care and may lead to longer wait times for emergency services and a decreased availability of local hospital beds.

The result of state-level Emergency Declarations expiring is the termination of a number of COVID-related waivers which allowed hospitals and public health, among others, to operate more efficiently and effectively in the face of growing COVID infections.

Reduction of non-life-threatening medical procedures in hospitals.

Crisis Standards of Care under consideration.

A continuing increase in the number of fatalities due to COVID-19.

Changes to recommendations as the scientific community continues to learn more about both the immediate and the life-long effects of all COVID-19 variants.

Given the current trajectory, we can anticipate continued increases in cases, deaths, and hospitalizations throughout the region. Mitigation measures remain our best option to change this trajectory.
It doesn't make any difference how many available beds there are in the region if they aren't ICU unit beds, and also if a significant number of ER and ICU staff are out ill with COVID or flu. If you can't staff those beds, they are useless. The same is true for general population hospital beds if that staffing is also out ill.
Last edited by FangKC on Thu Jan 06, 2022 6:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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FangKC
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Re: COVID19

Post by FangKC »

AllThingsKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:59 am
FangKC wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:11 pm Doctors: Kansas City's hospital capacity is maxed out as COVID-19 cases surge
Odd. Somehow ER wait times are normal across the metro:

https://hcamidwest.com/patients-and-vis ... -times.dot
None of these hospitals are the ones mentioned in the story. This is one health system HCA, a privately-owned system mostly in the suburbs.

The question one must ask here is when someone is very ill and an ambulance is called, where does the ambulance take them? Depending on their condition and location, they might be taken to the closest hospital and not one of the HCA hospitals.

Urban hospitals like Truman Medical Center, St. Lukes, and KU Med might be the where most 911 dispatched ambulances take people in dire condition. These might also be the largest ERs in the city. These urban hospitals usually have a lot more ICU beds, whereas suburban hospitals might not have that many.

There is also a difference between a non-profit hospital and a privately-owned hospital like HCA in how they accept emergency dispatches. Suburban hospitals tend to have smaller ERs, and might not accept new dispatches, which are then rerouted to larger hospital ERs. There is also the practice of patient dumping, which is still a very real thing.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news ... ederal-law

COVID also tends to affect low-income minority populations at much higher rates due to a variety of factors. Those patients tend to end up in the larger urban hospitals like St. Lukes and KU Med Center because those hospitals are in the urban core where they live.

So this could explain why the medical directors at St. Lukes and KU Medical Center are saying they are becoming overwhelmed.

A privately-owned hospital system like HCA is under no obligation to accept "overflow" patients from an urban hospital either.
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Re: COVID19

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I'm losing patience with the argument about Covid having a disproportionate impact on minorities unless we're going to be honest about the fact that when you go by race, POC, especially African Americans are the least vaccinated race in this country. Lack of access isn't an excuse anymore. So let's be honest about it.

Can we try keeping the high-risk at home and let the rest (vast vast vast majority) of the country spread this shit like wildfire and burn it out? Probably too late for that as it should have been done as soon as they had the data.
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Re: COVID19

Post by AllThingsKC »

DColeKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:51 pm ...the fact that when you go by race, POC, especially African Americans are the least vaccinated race in this country. Lack of access isn't an excuse anymore.
Which is why at this point, requiring proof of vaccination to enter a business is basically legalized racism.
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Re: COVID19

Post by ericwyner »

DColeKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:51 pm I'm losing patience with the argument about Covid having a disproportionate impact on minorities unless we're going to be honest about the fact that when you go by race, POC, especially African Americans are the least vaccinated race in this country. Lack of access isn't an excuse anymore. So let's be honest about it.

Can we try keeping the high-risk at home and let the rest (vast vast vast majority) of the country spread this shit like wildfire and burn it out? Probably too late for that as it should have been done as soon as they had the data.
the anti-mask anti-vax movement is mostly white, like the anti-abortion movement
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Re: COVID19

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ericwyner wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:37 pm
DColeKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:51 pm I'm losing patience with the argument about Covid having a disproportionate impact on minorities unless we're going to be honest about the fact that when you go by race, POC, especially African Americans are the least vaccinated race in this country. Lack of access isn't an excuse anymore. So let's be honest about it.

Can we try keeping the high-risk at home and let the rest (vast vast vast majority) of the country spread this shit like wildfire and burn it out? Probably too late for that as it should have been done as soon as they had the data.
the anti-mask anti-vax movement is mostly white, like the anti-abortion movement
Feels like that's a hard comment to back up with actual data. Being that the country is still mostly white, I could see how the uninformed could think that it's all white people behind the anti-tax movement but the data shows it's not true.

I'm not even aware of a "ANTI-" mask or vax movement that's legit. Sure, conservatives tend to not like the feds telling the entire country what to do.
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Re: COVID19

Post by DColeKC »

AllThingsKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:05 pm
DColeKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:51 pm ...the fact that when you go by race, POC, especially African Americans are the least vaccinated race in this country. Lack of access isn't an excuse anymore.
Which is why at this point, requiring proof of vaccination to enter a business is basically legalized racism.
Interesting, I've not looked at it like that but can't disagree. I disagree with the vax passports in general anyway.
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Re: COVID19

Post by FangKC »

DColeKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:51 pm I'm losing patience with the argument about Covid having a disproportionate impact on minorities unless we're going to be honest about the fact that when you go by race, POC, especially African Americans are the least vaccinated race in this country. Lack of access isn't an excuse anymore. So let's be honest about it.

Can we try keeping the high-risk at home and let the rest (vast vast vast majority) of the country spread this shit like wildfire and burn it out? Probably too late for that as it should have been done as soon as they had the data.
In the past, people of color were experimented on, or used for medical research without their complete knowledge or consent. As a result, there is a legacy of mistrust among many minority groups.
During the early months of the pandemic, the report asserts that blacks were more likely to have preexisting conditions that predispose them to COVID-19 infection, less likely to have health insurance, and more likely to work in jobs that do not accommodate remote work.

Both black and Latino Americans are also more likely to live in multigenerational housing, which places older, at-risk adults in close contact with younger people who may not know they have the virus.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspec ... t-covid-19
People of color might have particular concerns about the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness. Although Black, Hispanic, Native American and other people of color are overrepresented in severe coronavirus disease, vaccine hesitancy among these groups and others can complicate the decision about whether to be vaccinated.
...
“People of color, along with immigrants and differently-abled men and women have endured centuries of having their trust violated. We need to give people the facts about the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, and renew their trust toward health care in general,” Golden says.

...
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/ ... e-of-color

I agree POC should get vaccinated, but I do understand the hesitancy.
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im2kull
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Re: COVID19

Post by im2kull »

FangKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:11 pm
im2kull wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:41 am
FangKC wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:11 pm Doctors: Kansas City's hospital capacity is maxed out as COVID-19 cases surge
Don't post this shit propaganda that's full of blatantly misleading statements, and flat out lies. It shouldn't be spread. Stop falling for these fear mongering, knee jerk hoping articles. Two seconds on the MARC Covid data hub will show you that the area hospitals are right where they should be.. at their historic averages dating all the way back to the 1940s. American hospitals are for-profit any way you slice it. It costs them to have empty beds, so they usually run 80%. Currently there's 1,469 available beds in the area. That's actually better than average. 30% availability. Only 18% of all beds are being used by Covid patients.. many of which are chronic patients. So no, to quote the idiot in the article.. they "Don't have room" is a flat out lie.

https://marc2.org/covidhub/
Your link takes one to November 2021 information. The surge came after the Christmas holiday when exposure resulted in people showing symptoms three to seven days later.
I'm not sure what you're looking at Fang, and I mean that very respectfully. The MARC data is up to the day in accuracy. Here's the latest refresh date straight from the site.

Cases, Tests, Deaths
Data Last Updated:
01/06/2022

Hospital Resources
Data Last Updated:
01/05/2022

Perhaps there was just some fluke database issue at the time you were viewing it. I'd check it out again. Very insightful.

Also, hearing rumors now that around 30% of the COVID patients in KC hospitals are vaccinated patients. As predicted, the smaller the unvax pool gets the larger the vaxxed pool gets.
DColeKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:51 pm I'm losing patience with the argument about Covid having a disproportionate impact on minorities unless we're going to be honest about the fact that when you go by race, POC, especially African Americans are the least vaccinated race in this country. Lack of access isn't an excuse anymore. So let's be honest about it.

Can we try keeping the high-risk at home and let the rest (vast vast vast majority) of the country spread this shit like wildfire and burn it out? Probably too late for that as it should have been done as soon as they had the data.
+1

Anyone who still thinks you can magically avoid contracting COVID forever is simply delusional. It is a scientific and mathematic certainty that every human on this planet will at some point contract Covid. The quicker we get it over with, the quicker it's over with and we can return to normal.

In any case the death rate of 1/100K certainly and below for the vast majority of the population shows CLEARLY that we should be fully back to normal and ignoring Covid on a daily basis, as we do everything out there with FAR higher death rates. You literally have a better chance of being struck by lightning, AND dying of that lightning strike, than you do of dying from Covid.
AllThingsKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:05 pm
DColeKC wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:51 pm ...the fact that when you go by race, POC, especially African Americans are the least vaccinated race in this country. Lack of access isn't an excuse anymore.
Which is why at this point, requiring proof of vaccination to enter a business is basically legalized racism.
+2
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Re: COVID19

Post by KCPowercat »

boy I'm glad I avoided this thread. Is there any facts in here or just post what we want?
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Re: COVID19

Post by phuqueue »

Galaxy-brain takes only, please
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Re: COVID19

Post by AllThingsKC »

Trust me. I'm an anonymous internet doctor.
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Re: COVID19

Post by DColeKC »

KCPowercat wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:45 am boy I'm glad I avoided this thread. Is there any facts in here or just post what we want?
This thread should be right up your alley with all the unsubstantiated comments you like to make.
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