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David Jacobs Profile picture
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Mar 6 • 6 tweets • 5 min read
I'm happy to say that this will be my last #Omicron update.

/1
#COVID19
I read the ER and inpatient films from 11pm last night until 3:30pm today.

Of the 29 ER chest X-rays, only 1 had findings consistent with a COVID-19 pneumonia.

Amazing.

/2
#Omicron #COVID19
Hospitalizations continue to decrease despite a return to in class schooling and graduated reopening.

/3
#COVID19 #Omicron
cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
Masks will be lifted by the end of March which coincides perfectly with the tail end of the Omicron wave and a grace period after people return from March Break.

/4
#COVID19 #Omicron
ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ontario-on-tra…
Through the incredible work of our vaccination teams and high uptake in our communities, we've been able to bring COVID under control for now and in the future.

/5
#COVID19 #vaccines #GetVaccinated
theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editor…
It's time to tune out the pundits, many of whom are not even doctors, who make doomsday predictions that never materialize.

It's time to dial down the fear and listen to the actual experts.

It's time to live again.

/6
#COVID19 #Cndpoli
globalnews.ca/news/8646483/l…

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David Jacobs Profile picture
Feb 3
It's been 2 weeks since my last evening and overnight call and WOW, what a difference that short time makes in this fast moving Omicron wave.

Here are my observations.

/1
@HRHospital #Omicron #COVID19
First, let's talk numbers.

Far fewer patients were coming in with COVID related complaints and only 23 patients in my 8hrs sample got chest X-rays.

That's down from 40 patients/8hrs 2 weeks ago, and 50 patients/8hrs the week prior.

The crowd is thinning out.

/2
Of those patients that did get chest X-rays, 20 showed no evidence of a COVID pneumonia, and only 3 showed mild pneumonias which were not even definitively COVID pneumonias.

There were no moderate or severe pneumonias.

/3
Read 7 tweets
David Jacobs Profile picture
Jan 15
Just finished my call. Here are my handover notes.

#Omicron #COVID19 @HRHospital
/1
First, an observation. If you want to see what's actually going on in front of you, it's probably best to look through your eyes and not through your smart phone.

Social media tends to sensationalize the mundane and amplify voices with a particular point of view or agenda.

/2
The ER docs I talked to last night felt the department was manageable. Comments ranged from 'steady but not crazy', to 'we're pretty good, not too bad at all'.

This kind of optimism from an ER doc is reassuring.

/3
Read 9 tweets
David Jacobs Profile picture
Jan 8
These would be terrifying numbers if this was the Delta wave, but this is Omicron and that does make a difference.

So what's changed?

/1
#Omicron #COVID19
nationalpost.com/news/canada/on…
Omicron is less severe. It tends to present as an upper respiratory tract infection as opposed to a pneumonia. The reason is related to the change in the spike protein and its ability to enter lung cells.

/2
upi.com/Top_News/US/20…
Does this mean that it's safe to be unvaccinated? Unfortunately not.

While the unvaccinated population will not have as many deaths per infection as in the Delta wave, they are at massively increased risk of serious disease and death compared to their vaccinated peers.

/3
Read 8 tweets
David Jacobs Profile picture
Jan 5
It's 5:45 in the morning and I'm coming up to the final few hours of my afternoon/evening/overnight shift. Things have changed since last week, and here's where we're at.

/1
#Omicron #COVID19 @HRHospital
The first observation is that the ER team at my hospital are absolute heroes, and I don't say that lightly. They are taking the brunt of the Omicron wave both in terms of patient volume and exposure to the virus. They do all of this with calm professionalism.

/2
This takes me directly to the real crisis that's been brewing this wave. Due to the highly contagious nature of Omicron, we're slowly losing frontline staff. The stress for those remaining is not from fear of catching the virus, but fear of being stretched too thin.

/3
Read 13 tweets
David Jacobs Profile picture
Jan 4
Thanks for looping me into the conversation @DFisman.

Trepidation by those who lobbied for school closures and further lockdowns, that their interpretation of the data may not be a true reflection of the clinical burden of the #Omicron variant, is understandable.

#Cdnpoli
/1
So, let's review the situation locally, and see what the experts in the US and the UK are saying and doing.

/2
Currently, at my 722 bed urban hospital, we have 80 patients with COVID. Of those, 35 have been identified as having COVID unrelated to their diagnosis. That's 44% of patients and includes some in the ICU.

/3
Read 13 tweets
David Jacobs Profile picture
Dec 26, 2021
I've just finished up my afternoon, evening, and overnight call. Here are my observations.

My apologies, but this is going to be a long thread.

/1
#Omicron #OmicronVariant #COVID19
My heart dropped when I opened my 1st case yesterday. It was a covid pneumonia and I thought to myself, here we go again. The next case that I opened was completely normal, and the next one, and the next one, and so on. Occasionally another COVID pneumonia would pop up.

/2
In all, I tallied no more than four suspected covid pneumonias. At the worst of the Delta wave, I could tally as many as 60 a shift.

/3
Read 13 tweets

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