Brilliant On a related note to this idiotic virus, after one week of self isolating I'm already sick of myself and need a drive in the 355 .... is this allowed under lockdown rules ?
Much of the alarmist political and media discussion about the China virus focuses on our shortage of ICU ventilators, which is the reason given why we need to "flatten the curve", so hospitals can cope. We are actively destroying our economy and people's livelihoods for this strategy. Some years ago, there was quite some concern in respiratory health circles about what ventilators do to humans, particularly people with compromised lungs. Placing someone on a ventilator is dangerous, the increased pressure in the lungs causes damage that is very slow to repair. In fact, only 30% of patients survive long term, largely because they're old and weak before the acute respiratory event hits them. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8404197 "mean survival rates were calculated to be 62 percent to ventilator weaning, 46 percent to ICU discharge, 43 percent to hospital discharge, and 30 percent to 1 year after discharge" You can "flatten the curve" all you like, but vulnerable people will still end up dead.
Ian, so if people over a certain age are unable to breathe unassisted, which is the ultimate outcome of the flu, you suggest just leaving them to asphyxiate?
In the “it never rains, but it pours” category, I asked for extra jobs from Braille house now that I have extra time (not going into the office, just do emergency stuff from home) and got the reply that their server has crashed and techs are waiting for parts and until that’s done, NO files can be retrieved...
https://www.couriermail.com.au/coronavirus/clive-palmers-private-plane-and-secret-mission-for-drugs/news-story/d38675ab6ce0144b1f4d2d084de7f980
It's called "triage", Karen. It's not age, it's survivability. Older patients also have more comorbidities, and are more likely to die, regardless of any intervention. Best save resources for patients that have a better chance of survival.
Understand that, and as Greg has pointed out earlier it would seem the Italian death figures are much higher because they’re sending people to ICU that we might not... BUT Covid is NOT just affecting old people (they may be the biggest cohort, but they’re not the only) and its likely that many younger people WILL need ventilators. As Greg said, they don’t ventilate people for fun...
Health funding, on a national level, is pretty pragmatic. It boils down to dollars spent per life saved. We've already gone way past what a normal health intervention would cost. Let's say that we lose 1,000 lives to COVID-19, but without these drastic measures, we lose 5,000. What are the measures costing the economy - $200 Billion by the time it's over? That's $40 Million per life saved. Most approvals for funding of new drugs or machines work in the thousands of dollars per life saved, maybe $100,000 tops. And don't forget, creating a national recession of such large proportion will not be without lives lost, for various reasons. You're missing the big picture, as are lots of people.
No I see what you're saying, but few people in the country KNOW those figures (the $100,000 dollars and the triage conditions Greg mentioned) and if the public got wind of it, there would be a major ****storm. Mind you, I'm actually in the camp that favours heavy triage and survival of the fittest in general but I don't think Fred and Doris average are ready for that, especially once Mum or Grandma are the ones on the line. It would be interesting if the current situation could be used to move that conversation and awareness along. And where do you draw the triage line in this case where it is actually NOT just the elderly or infirm who are being hammered?
+1 The point of my ventilator post was that we were "sold" massive economic disruption in return for smoothing the curve. I think the equation is BS. I've just got off a call with a colleague who lives in Las Vegas. March is normally 100% occupancy there but right now everything is closed. It's going to take 2 to 3 years for tourists to feel confident about holidays which involve a lot of people in a confined space, so you can forget about hotel resorts for a while. That means millions of (mainly low income) people out of work in one industry alone. This is not going to be a speed bump, it's a self-inflicted depression.