On Wednesday, the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized nationwide exceeded 100,000. This alarming statistic puts tremendous pressure on the healthcare system and its brave but troubled workers.
Some experts stated that the total number compiled by the COVID tracking project may soon double to 100,226 on Wednesday night. Robert Gratt, a physician in the emergency room at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said the country has reached a “dangerous turning point.”
Experts say that many hospitals will be forced to suspend elective and other routine operations, establish temporary field hospitals, and expand the number of personnel.
Little Rhode Island also has big problems. The state’s emergency alert system issued this message to residents this week: “RIGOV COVID ALERT: The hospital is at full capacity due to COVID. Stay at home as much as possible in the next two weeks to help the frontline. If you can If so, please work remotely, avoid social gatherings, and get tested. If we all reduce mobility, we will save lives.” The state has established two temporary field hospitals that can accommodate nearly 1,000 beds to meet rapidly growing demand.
According to estimates by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, New Mexico’s 534 intensive care beds reached 101{7d6bb1f761e691f027164c9fe6d1ebbc4659a250013ce39dc45a15ede39dbac5} capacity on Tuesday, the highest rate in the United States. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that since the state became the focus of the disease last spring, hospitalization rates have reached unprecedented levels.
In the spring and summer of the virus surge, nationwide hospitalization has greatly exceeded the previous pandemic high by approximately 60,000. The death toll in November was 36,918, which is lower than the total monthly deaths in April and May. Experts say that although the number of infected people has more than doubled, due to a variety of factors, including improved treatment plans and a higher mortality rate among young patients, who are less susceptible to the virus, the total death toll in November was lower.
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Butler University associate professor and public health expert Ogbonnaya Omenka (Ogbonnaya Omenka) said that it is normal to regard the death toll as the main indicator of disease severity, but the hospital crisis shows that in addition to mortality, infectious diseases there are other ways to raise serious challenges.
Glatt said that the next few months might remind people across the country that in New York last fall, there were long queues in emergency rooms and hospitals. These hospitals are doing their best to take care of COVID-19 to treat stroke, heart disease, the cost of a drug overdose, and other diseases.
The availability of key medical personnel (Intensive Care Unit Doctors, ICU Nurses, Emergency Room Doctors, and Respiratory Therapists) will determine whether the provision of care can meet the rapidly growing demand.
Hospital employees may be exposed to the virus at work, at home, or in the community. In North Dakota, the impact on health care workers has become so severe that Governor Doug Burgum issued an order last month to allow people who are positive for the virus but asymptomatic to continue to care for COVID-19 patients.
In many states, those who test positive are on the brink of two weeks. New Mexico Hospital Association President and CEO Troy Clark (Troy Clark) said that nurses and therapists exposed to the virus usually have to wait four days to get a test result. If the test result is positive, even if there are no symptoms, the medical staff will have to stay for another 10 days.
The CDC issued guidelines on Wednesday that can shorten the isolation period, but not enough to eliminate the main bottleneck of finding enough doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists to take care of patients.
The CDC issued guidelines on Wednesday that can shorten the isolation period, but not enough to eliminate the main bottleneck of finding enough doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists to take care of patients.
The vaccine, which is expected to receive emergency authorization in the coming weeks, will not provide an immediate panacea. Omenka warns that although participants in vaccine clinical trials are ideally selected to represent the general population, it is not clear how the results “translate into real life.”
Melissa Nolan, an infectious disease expert, and professor at the University of South Carolina said holiday travel and the rapidly rising number of infections could lead to mutations that reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine.
The increase in travel and social activities means an increased risk of contact and infection. The flu season is still a factor.
Omenka said that a person’s illness may not require hospitalization, but the number of people seeking help may put pressure on the quality of care or the medical staff themselves.
Even if the vaccine is found to be as effective in the general population as in clinical trials, it is still unclear how long the immunity will last. Omeka said that based on emerging evidence, social restrictions and their continued fine-tuning are true “our best approach at the moment.”
As the New Year approaches, not all indicators are depressing. Nolan said that in some areas, college students have been severely criticized for failing to comply with mitigation measures such as masks and social distancing, which may develop resistance to the virus. She said that early data suggests that the prevalence of antibodies in certain populations is high-in some areas, as many as 50{7d6bb1f761e691f027164c9fe6d1ebbc4659a250013ce39dc45a15ede39dbac5} of college students may have antibody protection.
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She said, “So, this means coming back in the spring (semester), we hope to reduce the transmission rate among certain groups of people.” “We might talk about college campuses in January as the safest place in America.”
Nevertheless, experts continue to urge Americans to wear masks in public, keep their distance from society, and wash their hands frequently. Travel and parties remain on most of the taboo lists.
Omenka said, “The vaccine is the expected exit strategy, but the country cannot “leave in a hurry or give up certain public health measures that have been found to help alleviate COVID-19.”
