COVID - 19 - Number of confirmed cases and deaths in the US

Whoever said it was??? Here in NYS our numbers continue to DROP...tremendously. I am THANKFUL we are still at a stay at home order till May15...Then things will open a little at a time and IMO--NYC will continue to be under great restrictions

Yep, it was sarcasm. Remember when Trump said he had a feeling that by April, it was going to magically disappear??? or how about when we only had 15 confirmed cases, and he stated that it would soon be zero??

One of DDs BFFs from high school, mom is a nurse. In ICU on a vent, dialysis has Covid19, sepsis and tonsillitis. Pretty sure she would say it's not a bunch of hype.

Thankfully, last update she is improving some.

The medical personnel I know (good friends at big and small hospitals) do not believe those numbers either. One has seen a severe case here in my town at a small hospital and thankfully that person survived. But they think that any death is now being listed as Covid and that was proven to be true when the CDC went back and "deleted" possible covid deaths.

Given the excess death spikes being counted in every country around the world, I believe this is actually worse than the official numbers are indicating. It will take quite some time (possibly years) before the true numbers can be accurately assessed.

Also, this:
www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/nyregion/new-york-city-doctor-suicide-coronavirus.html

My son in law had to work briefly at a large regional last week (UK) and spent a little time talking to some members of the medical teams and it’s certainly real and happening here at least.

Can you provide any context or source for your statement that the CDC “deleted” deaths? This appears to suggest it was misinformation started by a talk show host.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/05/04/politics/cdc-coronavirus-death-toll/index.html

I think it is interesting that even among healthcare workers, if it isn't directly impacting them then they assume it's not a big deal. Phoenix is in Maricopa County and they have just over 5000 cases. The Harris County (Houston area)  has over 7,000 cases. Neither hospital system is overwhelmed but our medical personnel has seen a number of terrible cases. In addition, there are enough cases right now in our area that force certain decisions about resources. My DH's co-worker had to have a kidney stone removal procedure under an epidural because they did not want to anesthetize him due to a lack of a respirator. I feel like if a disease is impacting us enough to have to endure a procedure normally done under anesthesia while you are awake, then it is a terrible disease that has the potential to get worse.

But as I have often told DH, humans are inherently selfish and most won't change their thoughts or behaviors unless they are directly impacted by negative consquences.

It all about your perspective. I teach nursing online and have students across the country, most in the tristate area (NY, CT, NJ). In that are it as bad or worse than they say. Many of my students are working 60 plus hours a week. Serious lack of personal protective equipment, having to reuse equipment,washing it down yourself. Tent hospitals are real, filled with patients, particularly in NY. New admitted patients had been declining, the number of new diagnosed cases increasing due to increased testing. The past three days we have seen an uptick in admitted cases, possibly due to weather in the 70's on a weekend. I know the beaches near my house were busy. They have now been closed to people sitting on the beach due to lack of social distancing that weekend.
I have a few students who live in rural areas of the country. One has yet to see a covid case. However the student admits the way they live there life normally in this community is socially distancing. Others have seen cases but not to the extent of the hotspots.
When a Covid patient gets a moderate to severe case they are truly sick and isolated. They feel like they have been run over by a couple of semis, and can't get air in. You hurt all over. The few colleagues I have who have had the flu or pneumonia in the past then had Covid say that Covid feels ten times worse. And leaves you much more debilitated afterward.
The stress the nurses are under is tremendous. It is hard enough to take care of one or two patients on isolation. All is overwhelming. We are also going against everything we have been taught about infection control. You are supposed to change your gown, mask,gloves every time to prevent the spread of infection. No longer, because the equipment is not available. They are doing their best to save their patient's lives, but their best is not always enough. In normal times if you have a death on your shift you go home cry, blow off the steam. Now they are seeing 3 and 4 deaths in hotspots per nurse not per unit. You want to be with the patient, comfort them, comfort the family. Now no family is allowed, you comfort the patient as best you can. Then you try to comfort the family over the phone, facetime, but it is not enough. It lacks the human touch, the caring. The essence of who we are as a nurse cannot be replaced with technology
They are tired of being betrayed by fellow medical professionals who call this all hype. Walk a mile in their shoes, live breath and see the reality. See the pain, hurt, and emotional turmoil. Then thank your lucky stars this is not your reality. And pray it does not become your reality.

I listened to a podcast recently that interviewed some EMTs and paramedics in NYC. They said the number of heart attack/stroke calls they are going on is unprecedented and for many the family members say the person had been ill with fever, cough, etc. I don't know how they are treating these deaths, but I think it is possible deaths are being undercounted.

Of course, that is anecdotal. But if you look at the data plotting average deaths per month and see the spikes since Covid is around - something is causing a huge Delta in deaths from normal. And if it isn't Covid - what is it?

Response from healthcare workers seems to be heavily influenced by their location and exposure to Covid. I think we have all seen the posts written by workers in NYC and they are horrifying. The people who seem to be minimizing the danger have not been in the thick of it.

And anyone who blows this off saying it is like the flu pretty much instantly loses any credibility in my mind. The flu is serious too and there is a lot we are still learning about Covid, but so far the science and data indicate this is most definitely not "just like the flu".

Arizona just had its highest death toll so far - 67. The number of cases - and deaths - goes up each day, no decline. But as of today, things are starting to open up. There is a restaurant in Wickenburg that opened up 3 days early and has been packed with "patriots" wanting to show their political loyalties. I wonder how the woman running the place will feel if an outbreak is traced to her restaurant and people start dying because of it?

I hope the food is really good - good enough to die for.

Right now I am working in either Emergency Obs or the Covid ICU. It is very real, and we have a lot of positive patients. The ICU is still like a war zone as far as how very sick the patients are and how fast they can turn.

But we did flatten the curve where I am and while the upturn in cases was 19% this week (in my facility--they update us regularly), we are now testing everyone who gets admitted. The number of critically ill patients has stayed steady here. There is no way to tell who will be critically ill vs mildly ill. This virus does nothing in a predictable fashion. It causes clotting disorders in some people which I have seen firsthand. It's not just respiratory.

In her area, maybe it's not too bad, but she can't discount everyone else's experience. I do think we can cautiously start to reopen. There are a ton of asymptomatic carriers so good hygiene is still important and wearing a mask should be required to protect others.

Just my experience.

Our county of over 500,000 has a total of 8 people hospitalized right now with Covid, with the last hospitalization on April 30th. Oh and at least 61% of all deaths in our state are now contributed to nursing and long term care facilities.

So our lucky hospitals are going through pretty severe layoffs and furloughs right now because they are losing tons of money. We have long lines at the food pantry drive thrus, businesses are shutting down for good because they can't continue any longer with no income and suicides are up.

2,996 people died on 9/11. More than that die every 2 days due to COVID. Predictions are that we will reach that number daily by the end of the month. 

And yet almost every American alive and old enough to remember it will say that 9/11 affected them in a personal manner, even if they didn’t know anyone who died.  

It is sad that people are willing to blow off the 78,563 people who have died as of the time of my writing this post, because they don’t like science, especially when its facts contradict their cherished beliefs.