Thread by @eugyppius1

“But it will overwhelm our hospitals!”

Hospitals are operated for the benefit of society. For almost two years, we have forgotten that, and endeavoured instead to operate society for the benefit of hospitals.

Yes, it’s possible that in some places, rising infections may reduce standards of care for a time. Your hospitals will not ColLapSe or MelT DoWN, but it may be more difficult to get treatment.

In most of our countries, containment has already effectively restricted access to treatment for a long time now, so this state of affairs will not be new, it will just be more of the same.

The problem of OvERWheLmEd HoSpiTAlS is moreover not unique to Corona, and it did not suddenly befall us in the earliest months of 2020. Annual flu seasons have, for decades now, pushed hospitals across the west to the limits of their capacity.

There are a lot of forces at work here, including corporatist economising, cost disease, and above all, increasingly elaborate, resource-intensive, dehumanising, and ultimately futile end-of-life care. The latter is a big part of what is happening in your OvERwHelMEd HoSPiTALs.

The vast majority of the healthy population does not need constant access to medical care, and a lot of the care our healthcare systems provide is of highly questionable utility. Millions and millions of people have not seen the inside of a hospital since all of this took off.

All virus restrictions need to be lifted, & hospitals need to prioritise care & manage resources as best as possible through the winter, as they always have. They will not melt, though some diseases may go neglected for a time — as they have already as a result of restrictions.

If more capacity is truly needed, then governments should go about actually encouraging its development in the longer term, rather than house arresting their entire populations in futile and increasingly insane efforts to eradicate pervasive respiratory viruses.