1/ Though we may continue to hope for the best, in Massachusetts we are approaching the #COVID19 crisis we have sought to avoid: the upper limit of critical care capacity. This has enormous #ethical implications.
Here’s what you should read to be informed:
(4 tweet thread)
2/ First, a broad and thorough assessment of the ethical principles involved in allocating resources during pandemics and applied to COVID-19 in @NEJM. nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
4/
Lastly, the document recently released by the MA Crisis Standards of Care Advisory Committee, which will guide actions by all healthcare organizations in MA. tinyurl.com/t2dwrxn
Focus on ethics starts on page 9 with Section E: Ethical Principles.
Given recent events with #POTUS, there's a renewed interest in the typical clinical course of #COVID19.
Here is a quick refresher for all audiences:
1) Symptoms severe enough for patients to seek hospital care often don't occur until 5-7 days after symptom onset.
a med🧵 1/
Week 2 of #COVID19 symptoms is, on average, the "danger window" when some patients become abruptly and critically ill.
2/
Week 3 of #COVID19 symptom--for patients who have been hospitalized with moderate or severe symptoms--is typically when we see them turn the corner and start improving.
The fact is we still don’t know what the long-term complications of #COVID19 will be, so student athletes cannot yet make an informed choice on the risks and benefits of playing.
(thread)
1/3
We know that if the Big 5 conferences decide to go ahead with football this fall, despite the unknown (but potentially serious!) risks to the athletes, many athletes will have circumstances that, rightly or wrongly, compel them to participate.
2/3
No scholarship is worth permanent disability from, say, cardiomyopathy from #COVID19.
I’d like to use some #popculture to highlight a truly awful, but yet-unmeasured impact of the current #COVID19 pandemic in the U.S.: restrictions on visitors to hospitals.
I’m currently reading Becoming by @MichelleObama. It’s fantastic.
Finished chapter 10 and...
...I couldn’t help but think of the countless people who've been robbed of this type of moment in their own lives because of COVID-19’s effect on hospital visitor policies. Perhaps it is just another unquantifiable tragedy in the midst of many in this pandemic...
...but I think it’s worth highlighting that the human costs of COVID-19 have and will go far beyond the mortality statistics, lost QALYs, etc. COVID-19 will also leave scars on many who never directly encountered the virus.
Great opinion piece in @statnews co-authored by my colleague @Ateevm re: why #telemedicine is already losing it's precarious foothold in the U.S. healthcare system. Below is a summary of their line of reasoning in 3 tweets 🧵💡