Medical Discussion of Coronavirus

[Hatton]

My colleague - a psychiatrist in NY who deals especially with the NYC orthodox Jewish community has at least 25 positive/sick patients in his practice. I’ll spare you the details, but it’s pretty awful. I only have 4 in my (relatively small) psychiatric practice, but 20ish in my circle of friends, patients, acquaintances. One friend is dead, one miraculously is finally off a respirator after three weeks, remains to be seen what her quality of life will be, etc. I’m 61. I have a lot of energy. I have goals, and teenaged kids. Not anxious to die yet. Don’t tell me I’m expendable. Neither is my 85 year old mother. We all still have a future.

I think Max Powers posts imply that those of us who are in our 60s are expendable. Just put us on the ice floe. I agree with Antares that I am not done with my life at 62. I have no comorbidities other than age. What is the point of saving for retirement if the consensus is just let them die. Our healthcare system has not broken down. I think the country at large is much more appreciative about the risks taken and the job done. I think the economy is damaged but will resurge. Let's try to be a bit optimistic.

[Tangler]

Did somebody say you were expendable and I missed it?

Yes, you kinda did!

[CordMcNally]

Yes, you kinda did!

Really? Where?

[StarTrekDoc]

COVID has hit cities and communities differently. My community has prepared aggressively for a surge that has not happened while colleagues in different parts of the country were unable to prepare. Social distancing effect is dependent on the intersect of: time initiated, population density, and initial community burden of COVID.

Treating all of the country the same doesn't make sense....

There's one underlying basis that needs to be understood and maintained: Virus is HIGHLY contagious and social distancing outside immediate household is a must.

Ignoring those two basic scientific/social musts as demonstrated in multiple protests is NOT a road map to any return to normalcy.

[StarTrekDoc]

I think Max Powers posts imply that those of us who are in our 60s are expendable. Just put us on the ice floe. I agree with Antares that I am not done with my life at 62. I have no comorbidities other than age. What is the point of saving for retirement if the consensus is just let them die. Our healthcare system has not broken down. I think the country at large is much more appreciative about the risks taken and the job done. I think the economy is damaged but will resurge. Let's try to be a bit optimistic.

I call upon Star Trek: TNG to shine a light on this as a response.

Written Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_a_Life_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

[fatlittlepig]

Does anyone believe in conjunction with lifting social distancing and "lockdown" we will:
1. Greatly improve testing capacity (possibly)
2. Perform contact tracing for positive cases, I just don't see that happening other than in some areas.
3. Physically isolate infected people, I definitely don't see that happening.

[Tim]

There's one underlying basis that needs to be understood and maintained: Virus is HIGHLY contagious and social distancing outside immediate household is a must.
Ignoring those two basic scientific/social musts as demonstrated in multiple protests is NOT a road map to any return to normalcy.

"Treating all of the country the same doesn't make sense...."
That's the problem. Interstate travel. Interstate commerce. Everything WAS fine, until XXX came through. Treatment and immunization are the only solutions, unless it simply runs it's course.

[Lordosis]

I call upon Star Trek: TNG to shine a light on this as a response.

Written Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_a_Life_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

I remember that one. Basically Logan's Run.

[jhwkr542]

I'm not sure I buy the "sacrifice the old people" as an actual defense. Isn't what we're doing flattening the curve, not decreasing the area under it? Mammograms, screening colonoscopies, and pap smears have all but stopped from our experience. There has to be some morbidity and mortality from that if done on a nationwide scale.

[CordMcNally]

Does anyone believe in conjunction with lifting social distancing and "lockdown" we will:
1. Greatly improve testing capacity (possibly)
2. Perform contact tracing for positive cases, I just don't see that happening other than in some areas.
3. Physically isolate infected people, I definitely don't see that happening.

Do you believe the same measures should be in effect for Aberdeen, SD and NYC?

[fatlittlepig]

Do you believe the same measures should be in effect for Aberdeen, SD and NYC?

yes the things listed are generic disease containment strategies.

[CordMcNally]

At some point, society will move forward. I think there is certainly a safer way to do that and it makes sense to do that locally and regionally. That's why we have local and regional governments and experts. You aren't going to keep a country of 330M people on quarantine for an extended period of time. As some point, society will reach a number of COVID-19 deaths that they are ok with and will move forward. That doesn't mean certain individuals are expendable. It will mean that certain high risk individuals will need to take extra precautions. Society does this with the flu every year. We've never quarantined people for a flu season although a quarantine and social distancing would certainly lower the number of deaths from the flu each year. We don't do it for traffic deaths, etc. It's a time that nobody here has experienced before. We don't know the overall best way to go about it. There's going to be Monday morning quarterbacking regardless of the path chosen but I don't fault those places who want to start opening things back up.

[CordMcNally]

yes the things listed are generic disease containment strategies.

I meant the same quarantine and economic shutdown measures.

Are you in support of shutting things down and quarantining for every flu season? It would save lives.

[wideopenspaces]

Does anyone believe in conjunction with lifting social distancing and "lockdown" we will:
1. Greatly improve testing capacity (possibly)
2. Perform contact tracing for positive cases, I just don't see that happening other than in some areas.
3. Physically isolate infected people, I definitely don't see that happening.

No I don't. I see another round of lockdown and bigger surges heading our way. Hope I am wrong! But I don't think anyone will be convinced it's a bad idea until they see the results. Even then, some of these folks are immune to reality so they will still want to open things up. It's just human nature.

[fatlittlepig]

I meant the same quarantine and economic shutdown measures.

Are you in support of shutting things down and quarantining for every flu season? It would save lives.

I'm OK with opening things up if the disease containment strategies are in place (which they are not).