COVID

I was at work today, I just finished a 12 hour shift. We had even more COVID patients. We had four patients die today. Here is the issue:

Many (the majority) of the patients in the hospital are older. Some are younger, but not most. The youngest COVID patient I have seen on the floor is 19. The oldest is 96.

The problem here is that they have more and more issues with getting oxygen into their bloodstream. The ones who are really sick can be on high flow oxygen at 60 liters per minute and still have oxygen saturations in the 60’s. Once the percentage drops low enough, their heart slows down, blood pressure drops, and they require a response team to keep them alive for the trip to their new room in the ICU.

One woman today with dementia pulled off her mask, and her oxygen saturation dropped to 17 percent within 90 seconds. That is the lowest percentage I have seen on a conscious person ever.

COVID isn’t fake. It is a real disease. Let’s get that out of the way.

Some portion of the people who get it, maybe fifteen percent, seem to have a lot of trouble and have to be admitted to the hospital. A portion of them seem to get worse until they have to be put in the ICU. Some of them die, some of them wind up with long term problems.

I am not and have not ever said that COVID is a fake illness.

Where we need to be spending our scientific efforts is in discovering why some people suffer more than others, and why some have problems recovering fully. So why aren’t we doing that?

Because of the real problem. Some people in and out of our government have discovered that this crisis can be used to create fear, and with that fear, they can take more power and money for themselves. Now that they have that money and power, they are not likely to give it up.

My mother, who is 76 years old, called me late last night. She has been vaccinated. She wears a mask. She also has COVID. Sounds scary, right? Her symptoms? She describes them as being just like a mild cold.

This is where the pro-vaccine crowd will tell you “See, you got the vaccine, so it isn’t as serious.” They forget that the vast majority of people who get COVID have mild, or no, symptoms. This is an illness with a 99 percent survival rate.

My wife attended a funeral today. The man who was the guest of honor had died of COVID, and was the father of a friend. My wife went to pay her respects. The story that she was told left me speechless.

When the man became sick to the point where he was not doing well, they took him to a local hospital. (Not the one where I work). It turns out to have been the worst mistake that they could have made. After he was admitted, he became sicker. They would not allow any family in to see him. For the next ten days, his health began to suffer. He was moved to the ICU.

A wealthy friend of the family hired a medical evacuation team and a private jet to fly him to a larger, better equipped hospital. The better hospital agreed to accept him. The medical team arrived at the airport and was ready to take him to the other hospital. The small, local hospital refused to allow him to leave.

A few days later, he died. A Catholic, and a priest was not even allowed in to give last rites. He died alone, having not seen his family in over two weeks.

I would find out the name of the doctor that did this to my family. He would receive a visit from me, where I delivered some hard lessons.

I recently had a similar situation occur at my hospital. A fellow employee came to me because she needed help with obtaining information about her mother, who was a patient in the COVID ward. I helped her. She and her mother were both thankful.

I was called by my boss and told not to help her and used HIPAA as an excuse. I said OK, and then told my fellow employee what paperwork to fill out that would require the hospital to release the information.

My boss found out, and I got a HUGE ass chewing. I asked her how she would feel if that were HER mother. She told me that was beside the point. Things got heated, and I am surprised that I wasn’t fired myself. My wife was concerned.

My wife is upset about the death of her friend’s father. I told her that was the exact reason why I would not violate my principles for a paycheck. “I was just following orders” is not something I am prepared to try and use as a defense.

She understands that I have morals and principles that I live by. There are some things that I just won’t do. One of them is to violate those principles, and I don’t care how big of a paycheck I lose as a result.

The doctors and other healthcare personnel who did this should be ashamed of themselves.

According to my briefing at the hospital today, the newest variant of COVID has made an appearance in Florida: Lambda.

A large part of our admitted COVID patients are fully vaccinated: 29%. Whoever is saying that 95% of patients are unvaccinated is full of shit. They are lying to you. Fifty percent of the overall public in Florida is fully vaccinated.

A cruise ship just docked in Belize. Every crew member and every passenger over the age of 12 was vaccinated. Every living soul on board was tested and shown not to have COVID in the 72 hours prior to sailing. By the time the ship had entered port in Belize City, 27 passengers had COVID. All 27 were vaccinated, had mild or no symptoms, and were in isolation, according to the statement. The tourism board said 99.98% of the ship’s crew was vaccinated, as well as 96.5% of its passengers. Passengers are required to wear masks while they are inside of common areas.

How you view the above paragraph has become a litmus test of your politics. You either believe that this is evidence that vaccines and masking aren’t effective, or you find yourself believing that these steps are keeping the people who are ill from experiencing more severe symptoms.

I think that, if you tell me which camp you fall into, I can predict your political leanings on almost any other controversial subject with 90% certainty.