Beaumont nearing capacity, supplies running low

Submitted by The Mad Hatter on March 25th, 2020 at 11:32 AM

As I'm sure many of you have heard, Beaumont Hospitals are nearing capacity.  As of last night they had admitted 635 known or suspected COVID patients.

All of the local hospitals are now asking for donations of PPE.  So help out if you can.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/u-m-asking-you-to-donate-gear-to-protect-health-care-workers-patients-from-covid-19

Also, there's this...

"During a conference call Monday night, state officials said no COVID-19 patient who has needed a ventilator has been removed from the ventilator -- they have either died or are still on it."

Stay safe out there everyone.  And by out there I mean in your house.

Streetchemist

March 25th, 2020 at 2:41 PM ^

Is it true that’s it wasn’t nearly as contagious?  Deadly for sure as the death rate was microscopic but they were projecting half the population of the US to get it at one point.  Of course it ended up being ~20% but I’ve seen some projections for Covid to about that with others being higher 

blue in dc

March 25th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^

Mineral King - why don’t you walk away from the blog for a little while and write us a full diary on all of the things that the government could have and should have done to bettter mitigate the seine flu to back up your assertion:

At a minimum please address:

1. When did the president know it was a serious threat and when did the president tell the people

2. how many times in each case did the president downplay the threat.

3. Did the president say that everyone could get tested when they couldn’t

4. What actions were taken (and how quickly) to ensure that there was adequate testing equipment

5. were there shortages of masks, what was done to address those shortages.

I look forward to your diary.

NeverPunt

March 25th, 2020 at 11:52 AM ^

The only way out of this anytime soon will require a massive scale up in supplies for hospitals to keep healthcare workers safe and patients who need vents breathing, along with widespread testing at scale. 

It seems like there's a lot of action and mobilization to do so on all fronts, but the clock is ticking for a lot of people, as this thing takes a few days to get people really sick if they've got a bad case and quite a few more if they'll recover. 

The next two weeks will be telling as to how this is going to play out. Here's to hoping we're able to get it done. Feel grateful for and in awe of those in our healthcare system at the front lines of this thing. 

TIMMMAAY

March 25th, 2020 at 12:04 PM ^

It isn't just supplies, but actual ICU units, beds, doctors and nurses. And the supplies, which are near depleted. 

The Defense Production Act should have been quietly activated two months ago, with the feds coordinating centrally. But here we are, in dumb fuck Idiocracy come to life (except without the redeeming qualities). 

'Murica, fuck yeah. 

jmblue

March 25th, 2020 at 12:08 PM ^

The next two or three weeks are going to be tough.  The number of U.S. deaths from this is probably going to rise very quickly as we're in the exponential growth part of the curve, because of all the infections that happened before social distancing kicked in.

But our social-distancing efforts should start to show in the curve at some point in April, and some of the resources we're now mobilizing will start to become available.  Some of the drugs we're clinically testing now could come into greater use.  I think we'll start to see positive trends in the second half of April.  We've got to find a way to hang in there until then.  

Double-D

March 25th, 2020 at 3:58 PM ^

Let’s seriously hope the next 2-3 weeks is when we get the worst.   If that’s the case and we get some recession in the critical care need it would be a huge step in the right direction.  
 

Let’s all say a prayer.  Even the atheists and agnostics for good mojo. 

reshp1

March 25th, 2020 at 1:43 PM ^

My neighbor is a doc that's getting drafted into the COVID19 fight at Beaumont (I'm about 3 miles away from the Troy hospital). His wife sent out a plea over our subdivision Facebook for N95 masks because they are so short on supplies. This situation is absolutely bonkers. 

 

Edit: Henry Ford reaches capacity at two hospitals. Buckle up, everyone we're in for a bumpy ride.

snarling wolverine

March 25th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^

This has always been the main danger of covid-19 - that the sheer volume of patients can overwhelm a health system. 

People have tried to rationalize away the news from Italy/China/Iran by saying that our hospitals are "better" than theirs.  No matter how good your hospital is, there is always a load capacity, and if the numbers become too high, its quality of care will suffer.  We've got to keep those numbers down.

snarling wolverine

March 25th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^

I can believe that China's fudging the numbers.  And we're all paying the price for their initial incompetence.

But it was clear by late January that there was a severe health crisis in Wuhan.  And not everyone was caught off-guard by this virus - South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan were ready, having learned from SARS.

The rest of the world, unfortunately, didn't take it seriously.  The U.S. is certainly not alone.  But why we turned down the WHO's offer of tests is beyond me.  And why some people (even on this board!) to this day keep trying to rationalize away this outbreak as "no worse than the flu" or a sign of "bad health care" in other countries is even harder to understand.

TIMMMAAY

March 25th, 2020 at 5:49 PM ^

The whole world was caught off guard because of the Commie POSs.

Yeah, it really wasn't. At all. China went to the WHO almost immediately. They lied their asses off to their citizens, and media, but nobody outside of China was "caught off guard". On the contrary. We had months to prepare. We did nothing. Worse, our president downplayed it (kind of how commie china did, huh?) and lied for weeks. He's still lying. He's always lying. 

4godkingandwol…

March 25th, 2020 at 7:57 PM ^

Yeah. It’s the biggest bunch of bullshit. China began building a new hospital to be ready in 10 days almost 2 months ago to the day. And Wuhan population is 12mm. That should have been a fucking red siren with a giant megaphone attached to it. If we had real leadership at the very top, then state and local leaders would have been more likely to act more quickly as well. To try to shrug this off as “no one” really responding quickly is the weakest ass excuse. We aren’t talking about “no one” we are talking about the fucking president of the most powerful country in the world. He’s supposed to do better. 

TIMMMAAY

March 25th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^

I heard that on NPR yesterday. Scary stuff, guys. It will get worse (probably much, much worse) before it gets better. 

Keep a stiff upper lip. 

Satansnutsack

March 25th, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^

I mentioned this before on another thread but Jiffy Mix in Chelsea is hoarding N95 masks.  They stocked up in January in anticipation of this.  

Michigan Arrogance

March 25th, 2020 at 12:17 PM ^

My wife works L&D at a regional hospital in Upstate NY. The hospital cannot provide PPE to staff so they are buying masks themselves from ebay, Amazon, etc. Prices are 10x normal in some cases. Looking at reusing filters and disinfecting them on their own.

I'm worried that the lack of PPE will lead to 50% of healthcare workers in theis country being sick 10-14 days from now. And they either will have to Qtine for 14days (good luck operating at beyond capacity with half staff) or MUCH more likely work thru it.

Governor Cuomo is now mandating all NYS hospitals prep for minimum 150% capacity, 200% ideally.

blueheron

March 25th, 2020 at 12:24 PM ^

  • This is a false flag designed to hurt President Trump.
  • Enemies of Trump wanted to do a "financial reset" and COVID-19 is their method.
  • There's a cure ready but it won't be released (by the Deep State) until after the election.
  • IV Vitamin C will cure coronavirus.
  • LOL

- MGoBlog user Western_

TVG_2.0

March 25th, 2020 at 12:32 PM ^

Perhaps someone can enlighten me on exactly why all of these Covid patients are mostly going to Beaumont? I know people that work at multiple different hospitals and there are some hospitals who don’t have a single known Covid patient as of today. I’m aware Beaumont is massive but it’s an honest question. 

mgobaran

March 25th, 2020 at 12:51 PM ^

I'm 100% assuming things here, but my assumption is unless you're going to ER, the cheapest insurance plans require care to be scheduled through your primary care physician. Even if you aren't doing that due to insurance purposes, search online for what you are supposed to do if you think you have it:

Call your doctor before going in: Before going to the doctor’s office or emergency room, call ahead and tell them your symptoms. They will tell you what to do. 

I'm guessing if it turns into an emergency situation, you've already suspected you have it, and have called to try to get tested. People are calling ahead while symptoms are mild. So then, it has to be was the PCP is telling patients. It has to be one of the following:

  • Loads of local PCP are connected to Beaumont financially
  • Beaumont currently the most prepared, so PCP are pointing patients there as best chance of survival
  • Beaumont got the first case or two, and has a large network, so there is a concerted effort to keep COVID-19 cases contained by keeping it limited to as few hospitals as possible.

 

DonBrownsMustache

March 25th, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^

All of you are ignorant.  If there were a huge surplus of beds, ventilators, and supplies laying around for decades or years people are all “why do we have all this surplus laying around” and “what a waste”.  Now that we need it people are all “where is it all” and “why aren’t we prepared”.

Why didn’t you throw to the other receiver Shea?

Njia

March 25th, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^

Lots of people.

Yes, they do. All health programs, publicly and privately funded, have some form of per-case cost basis. Among the costs rolled up are overhead costs of administration, staff, inventory on hand, etc. To keep those down, excess supplies are strongly discouraged, even prohibited.