BusterAg said:
As I understand it, if you go into the hospital for a broken arm, they are going to test you for COVID. If you have COVID, now you have to go to the COVID wing / floor to separate you from the rest of the patient population.
After they put a cast on your arm, if you are not experiencing any major symptoms, you get to go home. It's unclear that each of these types of cases get counted as COVID hospitalizations, but I would be shocked if most of them are not reported as such. Much easier just to count the number of butts in COVID beds and report that number. So, hospital bed usage probably isn't all that much help either as a time series. I'm not sure an uptick in COVID hospital bed usage tells us much.
ICU COVID, ventilator usage, and COVID deaths are probably the only good things to pay attention to as far as time series go.
Your understanding is mistaken. Broken arms rarely require hospitalization. You will usually not be tested if you break your arm. You will be discharged and told to follow up with orthopedics.
The patients who are typically being tested who require admission are those with concerning symptoms, those with possible symptoms of COVID, and those requiring surgeries.
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