The (Inevitable) COVID-19 Thread
Mar 29, 2020 12:45:05 GMT -5
90GTVert, 190mech, and 3 more like this
Post by Kenho21 on Mar 29, 2020 12:45:05 GMT -5
Hey all,
I just wanted to get a little info out there on COVID virus and precautions people are taking or not taking. I'm sure most of us on the forum are already taking precautions and being safe, but I just wanted to take a minute to rant.
My name is Ken and I'm a baby fish in an ocean of the health care system that is Michigan Medicine (previously University of Michigan Health Care System). Mich Med is a 1,000+ level 1 trauma facility with all of the state of the art equipment you can find any of the best hospitals. We have over 40,000 employees and some of the best surgeons in the world. Mich Med and other institutions like it work with federal and local government to establish health care policies and procedures for the rest of the country. We have the rich and famous from pop stars to Saudi oil Sheiks seek out services from our medical teams. I work here in Clerical Overhead and (was) in the middle of my last semester of Internship in the Clinical Engineering Department.
I say all of that just to illustrate that, if anyone in the world knows what to do when it comes to diagnosing, treating, and preventing the spread of illness, at least one of those people will usually work here. That being said, no one here knows what to do and it's very scary. I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but I feel like many people do not understand the gravity of what we are facing. What I have to say if from first-hand experience and working face-to-face with the patients, families, Doctors, and Nurses at an institution caring for 100's of COVID-19 patients.
We have over 1,000 beds and more than half have been allocated to COVID-19 patients. We are dangerously low on many supplies and we have far better access to resources than most other hospitals in the area. We have already had several thousand graduate and undergraduate students displaced from their housing to make room for more patients and/or housing for staff that become sick. Almost all of our single-bed rooms have become double-bed rooms. The extra bed is a stretcher, not a bed. We are out of beds.
We do not understand how this spreads. We do know that the virus is aerosolized (spread through very small droplets in the air) a lot like the flu. What is different is that this is AT LEAST twice as communicable as any flu we have ever seen. That means it's extremely contagious and we're not sure exactly how or what is making it so contagious. We know it lives on surfaces for up to 72 hours, but times, types or surfaces, and conditions are mostly unknown and just best guesses.
This means it is better to be safe than sorry. What seemed ridiculous yesterday and like we were overreacting, is today our new a very necessary reality. In the same way that self isolating and closing businesses two weeks sooner would have most likely prevented us from being in the situation we are in today, taking what seems like an extra and unnecessary step today can prevent two weeks from now being even worse.
This is not a "bad flu." I've heard quite a few people call this "just a bad flu." Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, the virus is in the same family of viruses as the common flu, but that means nothing to you or I. What matters to you or I is that, whether you are young or old, you do not want to get sick with this. Days 1-4 are usually a bad dry cough, day 2-5 is usually a high fever and flu-like symptoms. Then, the party starts and severe respiratory symptoms start to set in. That's when we get to determine if you get a ventilator or not. We only have so many and we have to ration them to the people that have the best chance at getting better. If that's not you, well then you hope that you survive and the inevitable respiratory damage you are about to incur does not hinder your ability to enjoy the rest of your life. Your lungs will become scarred and if pneumonia sets in, then you have ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) and we cannot treat it. The best medicine we have is to "manage" it. That means keep you comfortable, manage symptoms (not treat them), and hope for the best. THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THE DISEASE PROGRESSES AND YOU ARE 5 YEARS OLD OR 500 YEARS OLD, IT DOESN'T MATTER. Or you may be on of the lucky ones that is asymptomatic and you get to spread this to your loved ones and family members unknowingly and they get to roll the dice. Best case scenario is that if you get this, you continue the spread and suffering and worst case is you experience life-long effects or die.
What you can and should do. Stay home. Unless absolutely necessary, don't expose yourself to anyone outside of your household. A beer run, trip to the store for a pack of smokes, or whatever else is not worth the risk. If everyone in the world just stayed home for two weeks and stuck it out, this would be over. The only reason it isn't, is because we continue to have contact with one another. That's the only way it spreads.
GOOD THING FOR US IS A SCOOT AROUND TOWN IS ABOUT AS ISOLATED AS CAN ACTIVITY GET! Just don't stop to bump fists with your buddies haha.
Sorry if I sound crazy or dramatic, but people are dying by the thousands and the death rate it multiplying. If cameras were allowed on the units in hospitals to see what this is actually like, I think people would be taking this much more seriously in some cases.
Also, I break way too much stuff and am far too inexperienced of a scooter mechanic to get by without help from every one of you.
I just wanted to get a little info out there on COVID virus and precautions people are taking or not taking. I'm sure most of us on the forum are already taking precautions and being safe, but I just wanted to take a minute to rant.
My name is Ken and I'm a baby fish in an ocean of the health care system that is Michigan Medicine (previously University of Michigan Health Care System). Mich Med is a 1,000+ level 1 trauma facility with all of the state of the art equipment you can find any of the best hospitals. We have over 40,000 employees and some of the best surgeons in the world. Mich Med and other institutions like it work with federal and local government to establish health care policies and procedures for the rest of the country. We have the rich and famous from pop stars to Saudi oil Sheiks seek out services from our medical teams. I work here in Clerical Overhead and (was) in the middle of my last semester of Internship in the Clinical Engineering Department.
I say all of that just to illustrate that, if anyone in the world knows what to do when it comes to diagnosing, treating, and preventing the spread of illness, at least one of those people will usually work here. That being said, no one here knows what to do and it's very scary. I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but I feel like many people do not understand the gravity of what we are facing. What I have to say if from first-hand experience and working face-to-face with the patients, families, Doctors, and Nurses at an institution caring for 100's of COVID-19 patients.
We have over 1,000 beds and more than half have been allocated to COVID-19 patients. We are dangerously low on many supplies and we have far better access to resources than most other hospitals in the area. We have already had several thousand graduate and undergraduate students displaced from their housing to make room for more patients and/or housing for staff that become sick. Almost all of our single-bed rooms have become double-bed rooms. The extra bed is a stretcher, not a bed. We are out of beds.
We do not understand how this spreads. We do know that the virus is aerosolized (spread through very small droplets in the air) a lot like the flu. What is different is that this is AT LEAST twice as communicable as any flu we have ever seen. That means it's extremely contagious and we're not sure exactly how or what is making it so contagious. We know it lives on surfaces for up to 72 hours, but times, types or surfaces, and conditions are mostly unknown and just best guesses.
This means it is better to be safe than sorry. What seemed ridiculous yesterday and like we were overreacting, is today our new a very necessary reality. In the same way that self isolating and closing businesses two weeks sooner would have most likely prevented us from being in the situation we are in today, taking what seems like an extra and unnecessary step today can prevent two weeks from now being even worse.
This is not a "bad flu." I've heard quite a few people call this "just a bad flu." Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, the virus is in the same family of viruses as the common flu, but that means nothing to you or I. What matters to you or I is that, whether you are young or old, you do not want to get sick with this. Days 1-4 are usually a bad dry cough, day 2-5 is usually a high fever and flu-like symptoms. Then, the party starts and severe respiratory symptoms start to set in. That's when we get to determine if you get a ventilator or not. We only have so many and we have to ration them to the people that have the best chance at getting better. If that's not you, well then you hope that you survive and the inevitable respiratory damage you are about to incur does not hinder your ability to enjoy the rest of your life. Your lungs will become scarred and if pneumonia sets in, then you have ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) and we cannot treat it. The best medicine we have is to "manage" it. That means keep you comfortable, manage symptoms (not treat them), and hope for the best. THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THE DISEASE PROGRESSES AND YOU ARE 5 YEARS OLD OR 500 YEARS OLD, IT DOESN'T MATTER. Or you may be on of the lucky ones that is asymptomatic and you get to spread this to your loved ones and family members unknowingly and they get to roll the dice. Best case scenario is that if you get this, you continue the spread and suffering and worst case is you experience life-long effects or die.
What you can and should do. Stay home. Unless absolutely necessary, don't expose yourself to anyone outside of your household. A beer run, trip to the store for a pack of smokes, or whatever else is not worth the risk. If everyone in the world just stayed home for two weeks and stuck it out, this would be over. The only reason it isn't, is because we continue to have contact with one another. That's the only way it spreads.
GOOD THING FOR US IS A SCOOT AROUND TOWN IS ABOUT AS ISOLATED AS CAN ACTIVITY GET! Just don't stop to bump fists with your buddies haha.
Sorry if I sound crazy or dramatic, but people are dying by the thousands and the death rate it multiplying. If cameras were allowed on the units in hospitals to see what this is actually like, I think people would be taking this much more seriously in some cases.
Also, I break way too much stuff and am far too inexperienced of a scooter mechanic to get by without help from every one of you.
