My local hospital posted a notice that starts with this: "Despite what you may hear from government officials or others, testing for COVID-19 is still extremely limited."
And this immediately gets to the core of the issue: in a crisis, you want a government that tells the truth.
And this immediately gets to the core of the issue: in a crisis, you want a government that tells the truth.
Here's a link to the full statement: cooleydickinson.org/2020/03/thank-…
The real message is that the US was caught on its heels and the leadership has been doing what it has done from the beginning, which is worse than nothing: they've been lying and figuring out how to spin it.
Our medical system *will* be overwhelmed. People *will* die by the thousands - not just the people sick with COVID-19 - the people who have other conditions who can't get treatment in an overwhelmed system. The people who are immunocompromised or immunoincompetent.
I look at my immediate family and of 21 of us in my generation, my wife's generation, our parents and our kids, 7 of us are especially vulnerable. That's nearly half. I like numbers (software engineer, not a mathematician), so let's break it down a bit:
We have 3 family members > 80. Each has about a 15% chance of dying if they contract that. Another way of looking at that is it's about a 1 in 7 chance. This is more likely than winning the smallest amount from a $5 scratch ticket.
If all three are exposed, there's a ~36% chance that there will be 1 or more deaths.
We have 3 family members who have immune system issues. They will be hosed if they get this.
And then there's my daughter who is taking drugs for one condition that make it Very Bad for her to spike a fever and is also prone to croup, especially in the winter. Oh, and she has cognitive impairments so she doesn't understand social distancing.
Am I angry about the federal government's leadership? Honestly, there are worse things they could have done. For example, they could have mandated sloppy wet kisses for every person entering the country.
They didn't. Instead, they lied. They lied about the numbers of people likely infected. They lied about it being controlled. They intentionally didn't get testing running at capacity ASAP. They made the testing criteria artificially narrow.
The end result is that people will die. Needlessly.
In my family, 33% of us are vulnerable.
Do the same math for your immediate family.
Count up heads and for each apply these rules:
In my family, 33% of us are vulnerable.
Do the same math for your immediate family.
Count up heads and for each apply these rules:
older than 50?
immune system issues?
respiratory issues?
heart disease?
diabetes?
If any are 'yes' then they are vulnerable.
immune system issues?
respiratory issues?
heart disease?
diabetes?
If any are 'yes' then they are vulnerable.
Take the total vulnerable and divide it by the total number of people in your family then multiply by 100. That's the percentage of your family that's vulnerable.
In mine, it's 7/21 = .33 * 100 = 33%
In mine, it's 7/21 = .33 * 100 = 33%
If you have a family member who gets sick and can't get a test, remember that Trump did this.
If you have a family member who gets sick and can't get a hospital bed, remember that Trump did this.
If you have a family member who is in the medical profession and gets sick treating other people, remember that Trump did this.
If you have a family member who dies from this disease or because they couldn't get treatment for something else, remember that Trump did this.
hey @threadreaderapp unroll this please?
