Thread by @WheatNOil

Friends, all my ICU colleagues are freaking out right now.

I mean like literally 100% of the ones I know are freaking out.

Not about what ‘might’ happen but what ‘is’ happening.

We’ve been at this long enough to have some Alarm Fatigue, but this is one I wouldn’t ignore.

Once the ICUs are getting hit, we’ve already screwed up. That’s a lagging indicator. One of the problems of using hospitalizations as a measure is you’re always reacting to where you were 3-4 weeks ago.

So these next few weeks are going to be tough.

These variants (UK and Brazil particularly) have taken off. The measures that we thought were enough for COVID-Classic don’t seem to be cutting it. This is spreading fast.

And the people in ICU are getting younger.

Now, some of that is we’ve been vaccinating the highest risk older people, and thank goodness we have been.

It doesn’t change the fact that we’ve got a lot of people in ICUs. It shouldn’t matter that they’re younger & previously healthier, but for what it’s worth, they are.

This doesn’t seem to be a regional thing. Like COVID-Classic, once the variants land, they spread. We’re hearing of them from Ontario, Sask, Alberta, and BC. Probably more but that’s where I’m more tuned in to.

The vaccines remain our exit strategy. Even against variants. Protection against serious illness remains strong.

But if we rely on vaccines, we’ll lose many along the way needlessly. They will not be here fast enough. Period. Vaccination is not an immediate strategy.

I say this not to strike fear.

Fear doesn’t really help us here.

We have a serious threat. The threat is time-limited. We should expect vaccination to get us out. But that’s a few months away.

We have to deal with April.

We’ve got a job to do to get through this month.

This has been a 12 months I never expected. Not of us have. It’s been a slog. I miss my parents. I miss... a lot.

And we’ll get it back. Soon.

There’s a lot of things at a systemic level I don’t have control over. The lack of sick leave is just mind-boggling during a pandemic, for instance.

I don’t have a ton of faith in the people making the tough decisions to make the decisions necessary to protect the population.

So all that’s left is for those of us who can make decisions to do so. Protect yourself as best you can. Protect your loved ones. We’ve all relaxed some rules to get by. Now just... doesn’t seem the time to do it.

We’ll get through this. Just stay safe for now.

These variants are pricks: Ontario edition

https://twitter.com/megan_ogilvie/status/1378729528533643264

These variants are pricks: Saskatchewan edition

https://twitter.com/ericjuliansy/status/1378159257154035714

These variants are pricks: Saskatchewan edition part 2

https://twitter.com/drsusanshaw/status/1375220428285767681

These variants are pricks: BC edition

https://twitter.com/dockevinmcleod/status/1378499216683593732

These variants are pricks: Saskatchewan edition part 3

(Had to repost because of the singular vs plural mistake. Variants are pricks plural, they’re not a singular prick. Got to get the medical terminology right.)

https://twitter.com/drsusanshaw/status/1378799894966763521