Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm a bit concerned about the health care workers that are getting COVID and are not able to work. I see that as a real threat as hospitalizations increase. Who will be there to take care of them as these workers are taken out of the fight, even if there is bed space available?
I'm not thrilled about a mask mandate, as I'm not a fan of mandating something that we should have been doing all along to be considerate of our fellow human beings (and yes, I believe they do reduce transmission - call me a sheep). But for all those opposed to face coverings and mask mandates, I'd like to ask you what your strategy would be do deal with our rise in cases and hospitalizations, to keep us from being the next North Dakota or El Paso TX?
I don't know if you caught Sununu's press conference...he mentioned several times that Grafton and Coos Counties have had marked growth in numbers of cases. Many, many people in this part of the state have NOT been wearing masks, I think mostly because they felt falsely secure that the pandemic was going to pass them by.
No, I didn’t see it. I admit my experience right now is mostly limited to the Monadnock Region and Concord. I guess I can see people up north behaving much like some in the western states which are now seeing an explosion of cases. More space, fewer people, independent attitude, a sense it won’t really reach them.
I don't know if you caught Sununu's press conference...he mentioned several times that Grafton and Coos Counties have had marked growth in numbers of cases. Many, many people in this part of the state have NOT been wearing masks, I think mostly because they felt falsely secure that the pandemic was going to pass them by.
I live in Grafton, but am obviously in other counties as well. I see no difference county to county.
I'm a bit concerned about the health care workers that are getting COVID and are not able to work. I see that as a real threat as hospitalizations increase. Who will be there to take care of them as these workers are taken out of the fight, even if there is bed space available?
A legitimate concern. Getting sick is almost a part of the job for health care workers as some of them deal with the sick public daily. After I had wrist surgery a couple years ago, I went to my first OT appt at the tail end of a cold-the OT was super appreciative when I told her and she masked/gloved up.
I think most of the health care workers will be OK. They have proper masks/other ppe, bath in hand sanitizer(kidding/not kidding), and now have decent protocols for dealing with any potential positives.
A legitimate concern. Getting sick is almost a part of the job for health care workers as some of them deal with the sick public daily. After I had wrist surgery a couple years ago, I went to my first OT appt at the tail end of a cold-the OT was super appreciative when I told her and she masked/gloved up.
I think most of the health care workers will be OK. They have proper masks/other ppe, bath in hand sanitizer(kidding/not kidding), and now have decent protocols for dealing with any potential positives.
Per the CDC, more than 170,000 healthcare workers have had COVID as of Nov 1st. More than 1200 have died. There is no information, that I could find, as to how many have chronic disabilities. In NH, 15% of cases are in healthcare workers. Areas STILL do not have enough PPE, or are severely understaffed. NH's long-term care homes are understaffed. This country's treatment of its healthcare personnel has been a travesty from the beginning.
Per the CDC, more than 170,000 healthcare workers have had COVID as of Nov 1st. More than 1200 have died. There is no information, that I could find, as to how many have chronic disabilities. In NH, 15% of cases are in healthcare workers. Areas STILL do not have enough PPE, or are severely understaffed. NH's long-term care homes are understaffed.
1200 of 170K cases, so less than 1% of positives have died? That is lower than the population at large.
So 0.007% of US healthcare workers have died of covid.
Everyone is understaffed. Could be Burger King, the DMV, the military, or a healtchcare field. Trained bodies willing to work don't appear out of thin air in all corners of the country. The only hospital in the last week's worth of articles which is saying they need PPE is Coos Nursing Hospital. In fact, most hospitals in the last week say they have adequate supplies.
They may want to request some PPE: https://prd.blogs.nh.gov/dos/hsem/?page_id=8673 Unknown whether the state or Amazon will be faster though. Based on the dates posted on the state's page, this is still a current program.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KCZ
This country's treatment of its healthcare personnel has been a travesty from the beginning.
Let's see. Wages generally above median wage, great benefits, decent hours, able to work in any corner of the country and find employment with little effort, and with the exception of EMTs in inner city hellholes is one of the safest employment options out there. I would say they are treated well and nobody forced them to choose this career.
So 0.007% of US healthcare workers have died of covid.
Everyone is understaffed. Could be Burger King, the DMV, the military, or a healtchcare field. Trained bodies willing to work don't appear out of thin air in all corners of the country. The only hospital in the last week's worth of articles which is saying they need PPE is Coos Nursing Hospital. In fact, most hospitals in the last week say they have adequate supplies.
They may want to request some PPE: https://prd.blogs.nh.gov/dos/hsem/?page_id=8673 Unknown whether the state or Amazon will be faster though. Based on the dates posted on the state's page, this is still a current program.
Let's see. Wages generally above median wage, great benefits, decent hours, able to work in any corner of the country and find employment with little effort, and with the exception of EMTs in inner city hellholes is one of the safest employment options out there. I would say they are treated well and nobody forced them to choose this career.
Equating the current situation of healthcare workers to their wages and benefits and hours is insane, but since you brought these things up... Let's see. None of them chose to care for patients with a deadly disease and NO PPE, for 80-100+ hours per week. None of them chose to work longer hours for less pay during this pandemic. None of them wanted to be fired for speaking out against the conditions in hospitals and lack of space, equipment, and meds, but they were. None of them chose to lose their jobs when hospitals closed to normal care and procedures in the spring.
You know how deaths of healthcare workers are tallied? By individuals seeking to recognize those people who sacrificed their lives for others. On websites, blogs, and Twitter feeds, as they receive information from grieving family members or colleagues who provided obituaries . The CDC and HHS have not released this information, whether it's because they haven't collected it or are afraid to publicize it is anyone's guess, but either excuse is disgraceful. The numbers of deaths are likely well into the thousands.
More recently, deaths of school personnel are being tracked the same way.
Throwing out examples of individual sites in NH is naive. Look at the rest of the country. Look at the data. A record number of cases (187,000) again yesterday. We don't live in a bubble and we are not immune to what's happening elsewhere.
Equating the current situation of healthcare workers to their wages and benefits and hours is insane, but since you brought these things up... Let's see. None of them chose to care for patients with a deadly disease and NO PPE, for 80-100+ hours per week. None of them chose to work longer hours for less pay during this pandemic. None of them wanted to be fired for speaking out against the conditions in hospitals and lack of space, equipment, and meds, but they were. None of them chose to lose their jobs when hospitals closed to normal care and procedures in the spring.
You know how deaths of healthcare workers are tallied? By individuals seeking to recognize those people who sacrificed their lives for others. On websites, blogs, and Twitter feeds, as they receive information from grieving family members or colleagues who provided obituaries . The CDC and HHS have not released this information, whether it's because they haven't collected it or are afraid to publicize it is anyone's guess, but either excuse is disgraceful. The numbers of deaths are likely well into the thousands.
More recently, deaths of school personnel are being tracked the same way.
Throwing out examples of individual sites in NH is naive. Look at the rest of the country. Look at the data. A record number of cases (187,000) again yesterday. We don't live in a bubble and we are not immune to what's happening elsewhere.
Hey, I'm the one that put the US and other state's stats up a page or two ago--no kidding we don't live in a bubble. This is the NH forum though.
Health care workers most definitely signed up for this, and they had the PPE. An ideal amount considering this hit every country and disrupted global supplies, nope, but they had enough to get by. DOD assisted states by providing PPE as well. To partially quote someone--you go to war with the Army you have-not the one you want to have. and a cliche-U Signed the Mfing Contract.
They didn't have the space so places got creative-some of them were utter failures such as NYC converting nursing homes into covid wards. Traveling nurses went to other cities to assist. Parts of the USAR and ARNG were activated to build field hospitals-which were unused. Hospital ships went to each coast and were largely underutilized even after NY sent a covid patient on(not their original intent). The ARNG is still activated in many states under federal money to assist with surges, testing, and potentially vaccinating.
I'm simply using the numbers you tossed out there and removed the emotion from it.
as far as the lost job quip you tossed in there-lol if you think that is something unique to health care workers and they should be treated differently because of it.
For example, LNA's (8140 of them in NH) start out at $13.88 per hour on average, with a mean wage of $16.67, median wage of $16.38, and top out at an experienced wage of $18.07 per hour. LNA's have a lot of patient contact and are very important in patient care. Physical Therapist Aides make even less (although there are only 130 of them in NH) and Medical Assistants (2,770 of them) don't do much better than LNAs.
RN's and above (and specialty techs) do make very livable wages, but some of our most vulnerable healthcare facilities like skilled nursing and long term care employ lots of the lower paid support specialties I mentioned above. Something to consider
Hey, I'm the one that put the US and other state's stats up a page or two ago--no kidding we don't live in a bubble. This is the NH forum though.
Health care workers most definitely signed up for this, and they had the PPE. An ideal amount considering this hit every country and disrupted global supplies, nope, but they had enough to get by. DOD assisted states by providing PPE as well. To partially quote someone--you go to war with the Army you have-not the one you want to have. and a cliche-U Signed the Mfing Contract.
They didn't have the space so places got creative-some of them were utter failures such as NYC converting nursing homes into covid wards. Traveling nurses went to other cities to assist. Parts of the USAR and ARNG were activated to build field hospitals-which were unused. Hospital ships went to each coast and were largely underutilized even after NY sent a covid patient on(not their original intent). The ARNG is still activated in many states under federal money to assist with surges, testing, and potentially vaccinating.
I'm simply using the numbers you tossed out there and removed the emotion from it.
as far as the lost job quip you tossed in there-lol if you think that is something unique to health care workers and they should be treated differently because of it.
Unless you consider trash bags and snorkel masks to constitute PPE, we did not have adequate PPE. Healthcare workers died because they were not adequately protected. And they most certainly did not sign up to wear trash bags every day.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
