The new variant #Omicron reminds us that we MUST be pandemic ready.
The clinical basics:

1⃣ Find the sick.
2⃣ Treat the sick.
3⃣ Stop others getting sick.

Some nations have failed on all three.

Short thread.
If you want good care, you must demand it!
RT pls.
1/9
#Covid_19
It is worrying that some nations - 20 months in - still have not got the clinical basics down:
1. TRIAGE.
Triage is the initial clinical assessment when someone is expected or confirmed to have Covid. It determines if someone needs further medical care.
We know that identifying those needing care earlier reduces the need for ICU, the length of hospital stay, and the rates of Long COVID. #LongCovid
Being clinically proactive saves resources, keeps hospitals open, and crucially, diminishes the level of pandemic THREAT.
2. FOLLOW-UP
Ideally all patients should be followed-up. But certainly all high risk patients should be followed-up.
Waiting for patients to present with severe Covid-19 (e.g. UK and US) before offering assessment will lead to more deaths and will overburden hospitals.
We must catch the deteriorating patient as soon as they become hypoxic (or before). This can make the difference between a few days of hospital admission versus a few weeks; short recovery versus long recovery.

[From preprint: identifying hypoxia early saves lives and resources] Image
Finally we must:
3. INCREASE BASIC HEALTHCARE CAPACITY
To many this would sound very obvious. There are going to be a lot of extra, additional sick people needing medical care. So we need more capacity to treat them. And basic care is easier to staff than ICUs.
It is however, CRUCIAL that capacity is created earlier. With Covid-19 or any unknown pathogen/variant we must have a lower (not higher) threshold for admission. We learned this with silent hypoxia and blood clots. We MUST have the space to admit patients we are concerned about.
If we don't provide additional capacity, then either those with Covid don't get the care they need OR other patients don't. And probably both. If we can't admit Covid patients early, they present later and sicker and take up the high intensity care space for other conditions.
THESE ARE THE BASICS.
▪️Triage
▪️Follow-up
▪️Capacity
It really is not complicated.
A proactive clinical approach saves resources.
Keep the mortality low and reduce the threat posed by Covid.
And we can do it!
But is there the will?

RT pls.

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More from @danielgoyal

28 Nov
Dear Tweeples,
I'm thinking about starting a campaign.
Healthcare provision for people with Covid-19 is far too inadequate in the UK. It does not even meet WHO standards for a low-resource setting.
With #Omicron on the horizon, I felt it was time to call for more #CareForCovid.
To date, Covid-19 cases in the UK:
1. Receive no initial assessment (triage)
2. Have no formal follow-up service - not even the high risk patients.
At the moment even an 80yr old can contract Covid and receive no contact from any healthcare professional. UNACCEPTABLE!
Finally,
3. Healthcare capacity.
To try and tackle a pandemic without increasing healthcare capacity (beds) is perhaps even more barmy. The UK is the only country I know of that has reduced their bed capacity during the pandemic. Everyone suffers!
Read 5 tweets
27 Nov
The dangers of misunderstanding the comparison between FLU and COVID-19.

There have been significant misinterpretations of the FLU death numbers. For some this has justified a "covid is not that bad" mentality. The dangers of group-think, once again.

1/n
#COVID19
#MedTwitter
Covid and flu can both cause viral pneumonia. Both can lead to secondary bacterial pneumonia.
But the direct death rate of each is:
Flu = 4/day
Bacterial Pneumonia = 55/day
Covid = 125/day (at CURRENT rates!)

ONS:
Most of us experience FLU as an unpleasant but rarely serious illness. This remains true for those of us working in acute medicine - we rarely see a flu pneumonia.
We do see a lot of bacterial pneumonia and now Covid pneumonia.

[Thanks to @jneill for graphic]
Read 14 tweets
25 Nov
Why is Germany’s Covid-19 response killing less civilians than the UK’s?

Germany has not done particularly well. Yet, at a population level their death toll is about half that of the UK.

Thread 1/12
#COVID19
And their excess mortality is a fraction of the UK’s:
[UK = 11% excess deaths, Germany = 3%]
What this highlights is that the overall strategy employed by Germany has saved a lot more lives than the UK’s strategy.

And may have saved much more of the economy:
Read 12 tweets
24 Nov
An extract from the (future) Covid Inquiry:
Q: Prime Minister, now that we have established that you decided not to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 and allowed the virus to spread freely, can I ask, what provisions did you make to provide care for those who would become infected?
PM: Well, eh…the..NHS. Our fantastic NHS… was poised and ready to treat the sick.

Q: But was the NHS not already beyond safe bed occupancy levels when you decided to lift mitigation strategies?
PM: Ahh, but the NHS had over 6,000 beds available, and no patient was ever refused treatment.

Q: According to the government's own data, at the time you ordered the lifting of social restrictions did the NHS not have LESS capacity than before the pandemic struck?
Read 7 tweets
22 Nov
The Johnson Legacy:
"Pursuing a mass infection policy while refusing to provide the treatment needed for those infected."
The fact this is happening is irrefutable.
But why refuse to strengthen the NHS during a pandemic?
And is there time for the PM to change this legacy?
Things are a bit hazy just now. We are all reeling from a difficult 20 months. Most are fed-up with Covid-19. And many have realised the damaging secondary impacts of the measures implemented to control it. Popular sentiment bastes in this recent trauma.
Popular sentiment will change. Indeed, for PMs in office during major historical events their legacy takes on a different quality. And I think few will argue the Covid pandemic is the most historical event since WW2. It is certainly killing more civilians.
Read 13 tweets
21 Nov
Johnson's legacy of pursuing a mass infection policy.

One fact will dismantle the Johnson Government’s entire defence at the Covid Inquiry and harm them irreparably at the General Election…

[#JohnsonOut #JohnsonTheCorruptPM #YourNHSNeedsYou]
The PM embarked on ‘freedom day’ without making provision to treat the inevitable increase in severely unwell cases. Just pause for a moment and consider that…
The UK has less inpatient capacity than before the pandemic. Freedom day has led to so much Covid Pneumonia it has TRIPLED the healthcare burden from 'normal' pneumonia - one of the highest burden diseases in the UK - and still the capacity of the NHS is less.
Read 6 tweets

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