I have no idea.

All I know is the statements from the executives that we are getting internally is that the hospital is open for business and people should feel comfortable coming here for all their healthcare needs. Very generic. They don't want to panic people from coming to the hospital for non-Covid issues. I think that's a legitimate concern. But I also think there's a level of honesty that needs to take place to help the public understand that we have a major issue on our hands here.

And the crazy thing is I think our leadership has done a really great job of finding PPE, finding nurses, finding ways to make rooms available, and educating our staff. From that standpoint it's been fantastic.

From a public health standpoint, I think we are doing our communities a disservice in not educating people on risk factors and spread rates here. A lot of this may not even be on local hospital leadership, it could be on county-level health authorities and leaders. Good information getting to the public takes a lot of cooperation from a lot of different entities.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2020/11/27/this-north-texas-hospital-is-over-capacity-imploring-residents-to-follow-covid-19-precautions/

Quote:

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A Rockwall County hospital about 30 miles east of Dallas is over capacity as the coronavirus continues to hold its grip over the state, putting acute stress on smaller hospitals.

As of Wednesday, 75% of the hospital beds were filled with COVID-19 patients, Rockwall hospital officials said. The occupancy rate stood at 120%.

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My father in law is at Baylor Grapevine (non Covid related) and was just diagnosed with lung cancer. He can't get any time with a pulmonologist because they are too overwhelmed with Covid. While the hospital itself isn't technically full, anything lung related is. Also, it sounds like the nurses are pretty exhausted. Just because a hospital isn't 100% full, doesn't mean it's not being overwhelmed. The death toll is going to be driven higher for patients like my FIL, who can't get the care they need, even though it's not Covid.

We shouldn't need laws that lock everything down. People should be able to just look at the world and then and understand that they should give people a little space, and don't go out of you aren't feeling great. Everyone seems to just think about the fact they probably won't die, and ignore the impact it is having on others.

My brother's ex wife, and all are still friendly and family, has Covid. The is 76. Hers is atypical, thankfully, but it will be a struggle for her to get well. It has attacked her digestive system with symptoms similar to a really bad stomach bug like the ones that hit cruise ships. I say thankfully, because she is always on oxygen, 24/7 due to emphsasima and I can't spell it. She lives with my niece. For two weeks now she had not been able to keep food down or in...several trips to the ER at the doctor's request, but no admission because as frail and sick as she is, others are worse. They give her IV's to get her hydrated and send her home with my niece. Two weeks, and she is still not over it. Yes, confirmed with the not quick but accurate test. My niece says the ER is overwhelmed with regular customers plus covid cases. After first visit, where they could not be seen for hours, the Dr. has said to call 911 and go in with an ambulance to be seen. I think three more trips this route.

And that first ER visit, they had them with the general population waiting room since triage did no suspect covid with no temp and severe vomit. They thought food poisoning. Did not even do a test till the second visit at her primaries insistance..and it was positive and confirmed with the test that takes longer.

I have to wonder how many she exposed sitting in that ER waiting room. Hopefully the health care people are taking covid procautions with everyone so not exposed.

Another issue with only looking at hospital % is that, while typically they keep pretty full % wise, the stress of Covid pts has got to be WAY higher than your average hospitalization. Like you said, just because it's not over capacity, doesn't mean our HCW aren't going though hell.

Fingers crossed by our local outbreak in rural North Texas seems to be dying down. Still having scattered cases popping up and some are still very bad, but the flood of sick people and positive tests has subsided. Most other places have seen a 4-6 week outbreaks, and ours started just before Halloween. So I'm hoping we've calmed down for a bit out here. Things were getting pretty scary for our small hospital for a few weeks