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Because as of the roughly 1980s. health care was run by "efficient managers". Read - folks, that cut corners anywhere they can and switch from proper to adequate.
As the result, as example, INFECTIOUS DISEASE hospitals, that are properly built with sealed rooms and proper air ventilation were simply shut down and dismantled as, they were sitting dormant, waiting for SHTF situations. Managers got their bonus off money they saved, countries - as it was done worldwide - were left without proper institutions for cases like now. MOF, highly trained and experienced infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists had to re specialize due to "no demand". And epidemiologists are very particular bread of doctors.
As the result, you have regular ICUs(like one, my wife works in) RIGGED into infectious disease wards. My first question to her, when they did this to her unit about a year ago, was - did they rebuild your rooms ventilation to ensure no internal and external infection spread? No. They simply taped doors and put fans in. I hope, most of you know that hospitals and SNFs became the highest risk to catch the virus. Wonder, why.
SO here you have it. And now, what was before built and manned for dozens of years, simply can't be turned on a dime and appear out of thin air.
And who cares. We'll just lockdown everyone, kill economy finally and write off government debt because of the COVID hardship.
SHOW ME ICU like this:
Outdoor air and recirculated air pass through air cleaners (e.g., filter banks) designed to reduce the concentration of airborne contaminants. Air is conditioned for temperature and humidity before it enters the occupied space as supply air. Infiltration is air leakage inward through cracks and interstitial spaces of walls, floors, and ceilings. Exfiltration is air leakage outward through these same cracks and spaces. Return air is largely exhausted from the system, but a portion is recirculated with fresh, incoming air. * Used with permission of the publisher of reference 214 (ASHRAE)
Engineering controls to contain or prevent the spread of airborne contaminants center on
local exhaust ventilation [i.e., source control],
general ventilation, and
air cleaning.4
General ventilation encompasses
dilution and removal of contaminants via well-mixed air distribution of filtered air,
directing contaminants toward exhaust registers and grilles via uniform, non-mixed airflow patterns,
pressurization of individual spaces relative to all other spaces, and
pressurization of buildings relative to the outdoors and other attached buildings.( you do realize, how much it will cost and how long will it take, to remodel a regular hospital HVAC to standard?)
A centralized HVAC system operates as follows. Outdoor air enters the system, where low-efficiency or “roughing” filters remove large particulate matter and many microorganisms. The air enters the distribution system for conditioning to appropriate temperature and humidity levels, passes through an additional bank of filters for further cleaning, and is delivered to each zone of the building. After the conditioned air is distributed to the designated space, it is withdrawn through a return duct system and delivered back to the HVAC unit. A portion of this “return air” is exhausted to the outside while the remainder is mixed with outdoor air for dilution and filtered for removal of contaminants. 215 Air from toilet rooms or other soiled areas is usually exhausted directly to the atmosphere through a separate duct exhaust system. Air from rooms housing tuberculosis patients is exhausted to the outside if possible, or passed through a HEPA filter before recirculation. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) can be used as an adjunct air-cleaning measure, but it cannot replace HEPA filtration. 15 Top of Page b. Filtration
i. Filter Types and Methods of Filtration
Filtration, the physical removal of particulates from air, is the first step in achieving acceptable indoor air quality. Filtration is the primary means of cleaning the air. Five methods of filtration can be used (Table 5). During filtration, outdoor air passes through two filter beds or banks (with efficiencies of 20%–40% and ≥90%, respectively) for effective removal of particles 1–5 μm in diameter.35, 120 The low-to-medium efficiency filters in the first bank have low resistance to airflow, but this feature allows some small particulates to pass onto heating and air conditioning coils and into the indoor environment.35 Incoming air is mixed with recirculated air and reconditioned for temperature and humidity before being filtered by the second bank of filters. The performance of filters with ≤90% efficiency is measured using either the dust-spot test or the weight-arrestance test.35, 216
And, BTW. Wife does have ONE COVID Pt in their unit now. Young junkie, non recoverable addict, with what not comorbidities.
Our ICU only has 4 designated isolation rooms. We have many more isolation rooms throughout the hospital. We purchased and installed portable negative air machines to convert traditional rooms into isolation rooms. Wish the floor staff would remember to turn off the machine and cover the filter when a non-COVID patient is in the room or if the room is unoccupied. The supply air to patient rooms goes through multiple filter stages before entering the room. We’re about to open a renovated wing that will add 12 isolation rooms. Future renovation projects include increasing the number of isolation rooms. Prior to COVID majority of rooms were positive pressure (air comes out from room instead of being sucked into the room). We still want positive pressure rooms, especially for patients with greatly compromised immune systems.
This morning Mayo Clinic hospital exceeded our capacity of 304 licensed beds due to the significant increase in COVID-19 inpatients. We have notified the Agency for Health Care Administration that our Surge Capacity Plan has been activated by our Hospital Incident Commander and have requested AHCA’s approval to operate at overcapacity until the current COVID-19 surge ends. Hospital inpatients will be occupying unlicensed beds detailed in our approved Surge Capacity Plan and we are currently able to staff the surge areas to meet the essential needs of our patients. Life safety will not be jeopardized for any patients.
What gets me is seeing what mask staff have to wear to enter a COVID room and yet the rest of us are wearing cheap mask expecting that to protect us from COVID. All it does is give people a false sense of security and they become complacent in their hand washing and personal space.
At this point, the best thing to do with this poster is simply to disengage (it's the recommended strategy for gaslighters).
But to recap (instead of listening to him try and twist things)
-The capacities of ICUs across the nation are inadequate (currently an average of 3 beds for every 10,000 people)
-With a waning immunity and only a 39% effectiveness on infection, vaccinated people can pass on the virus to those unvaccinated (yes, the rules to the game have changed)
-There are over 100 million people that either fall into the group that either cannot take the vaccine or are severely compromised [that includes as many as 14 million immunocompromised people (3-4% is typically quoted), 34 million with diabetes, and over 130,000 obese people]. These are people that don't fall into said poster's villainized (strawman) group and the reason you will not vaccinate yourself out of this.
-Hospitals are not close to being at capacity. ICUs are. No need to talk about tents since what we need are more ICU rooms. The 'surge' merely relates to ICU rooms. That surge in my area equates to an increase of 35 people out of 2.3 million that are now in ICUs (I suspect it's not much different across the country in different regions). I don't know what people's definition of a 'surge' is but being that hospitals have plenty of capacity and this increase amounts to .0015%, yeah, I'm not getting overly caught up with the media's or this poster's Chicken Little routine (I've been sick of it for over a year). Increase the capacity of ICUs and this matter is greatly diminished.
-We have spent nearly $3 trillion on this pandemic through a variety of aid packages passed on to businesses and individuals, yet we can't seem to find the money to build more ICUs or train people. Sorry, not buying it for a second. It's been 1 1/2 years. Something could have been done by now.
I'm not into people passing their moral judgements either.
There are responsible and irresponsible people. And those can be people that are vaccinated or unvaccinated. Enough with the "blame" hogwash!
This is a great point. We've had well over a year to figure this out. In that time---with the government throwing trillions all over the place---they couldn't increase ICU capacity? That was the WHOLE POINT of the "30 days to slow the spread..." "flatten the curve"--hospital capacity, which includes ICU. And they still haven't fixed it. Their excuse is 'the unvaccinated.'
This is a great point. We've had well over a year to figure this out. In that time---with the government throwing trillions all over the place---they couldn't increase ICU capacity? That was the WHOLE POINT of the "30 days to slow the spread..." "flatten the curve"--hospital capacity, which includes ICU. And they still haven't fixed it. Their excuse is 'the unvaccinated.'
Federal government doesn’t own nor operate hospitals. Hospitals are either privately owned or run by the state. Hospitals only have so many rooms. Some of those rooms can be converted into an ICU wing but the individual hospital would need to purchase equipment and increase staffing. Some nurses are burned out and leaving hospitals. So,e are refusing the vaccine because it hasn’t gone through the long term testing other drugs and vaccines have had to go through before being approved for use. Because they refuse the vaccine they can’t work at many hospitals that require employees to be vaccinated from COVID. Only way to increase the number of beds is new construction projects and that takes years from approval to certification for patient occupancy.
Federal government doesn’t own nor operate hospitals. Hospitals are either privately owned or run by the state. Hospitals only have so many rooms. Some of those rooms can be converted into an ICU wing but the individual hospital would need to purchase equipment and increase staffing. Some nurses are burned out and leaving hospitals. So,e are refusing the vaccine because it hasn’t gone through the long term testing other drugs and vaccines have had to go through before being approved for use. Because they refuse the vaccine they can’t work at many hospitals that require employees to be vaccinated from COVID. Only way to increase the number of beds is new construction projects and that takes years from approval to certification for patient occupancy.
Sounds like it's about time for them to get into that business in conjunction with the states. There are simply way too many excuses and reasons that we can't do something. Sorry, yes we can and other countries have shown that.
Maybe it's time to start working together instead of demonizing others... Eh? Funny how we talk about how hard it is to get approval for something and then we go ahead and approve vaccines... hmmm?
Sounds like it's about time for them to get into that business in conjunction with the states. There are simply way too many excuses and reasons that we can't do something. Sorry, yes we can and other countries have shown that.
Anything the feds takes control of becomes worse. Only federal controlled hospital with quality care is the one used by DC politicians. You want to see a federal controlled hospital then go visit VA hospitals.
Anything the feds takes control of becomes worse. Only federal controlled hospital with quality care is the one used by DC politicians. You want to see a federal controlled hospital then go visit VA hospitals.
I actually want to see a solution instead of hogwash excuses.
Sounds like it's about time for them to get into that business in conjunction with the states. There are simply way too many excuses and reasons that we can't do something. Sorry, yes we can and other countries have shown that.
Maybe it's time to start working together instead of demonizing others... Eh? Funny how we talk about how hard it is to get approval for something and then we go ahead and approve vaccines... hmmm?
This has to be part of future pandemic planning at the more local level. Some how swing beds and/or facility for rare but potentially urgent and massive needs. Very difficult. Facility, space, equipment, staff. And then yearly updates and resupply to all.
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I hope, most of you know that hospitals and SNFs became the highest risk to catch the virus. Wonder, why. 
