Covid cases stress US healthcare system

At the rate the Covid-19 cases are going up in the US, it’s possible that pretty soon people who are sick will not be able to get medical care in any hospital or healthcare facility. Currently, more than 11 million cases have been identified there, with one-quarter million deaths. As of today, 251,268 people have died from Covid-19 in the US. If the current exponential growth rate continues unabated, hospitals could be overrun such that adequate care could not be provided to Covid-19 patients or to anyone else either. Take a look at the 7-day average for Covid cases in the US right now. If this doesn’t strike fear in your heart, I don’t know what will.

And despite these ominous trends, there are still too many Americans that don’t take this pandemic seriously and refuse to wear a mask. Plus the federal government, thanks to the incompetent Trump Administration, is not taking an active role making sure cases go down. For example, the US government could impose a national mask mandate to reduce the number of cases, but it does not. It wants the states to handle the pandemic and this is why there are so many different approaches to dealing with the crisis throughout the country. Here in Spain, everyone is required to wear a mask outside and indoors in public spaces. Why is this so hard to require in the US?

Here is what Eric Garland, one of the wise people I follow on Twitter, had to say on this topic:

– Spread of COVID is now uncontrolled. We cannot understand it without mass testing that politicians refused to order.
– Numbers of hospitalized patients are growing exponentially.
– Deaths will inevitably follow exponential growth – although, now, hospital systems may collapse.

— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) November 15, 2020

AMERICA IS HEADED FOR MULTIPLE CRISES:
– Hospital systems will be stressed to the point of collapse within weeks.
– Logistics of processing, storing, and burying the dead will overwhelm current systems; it will take weeks to months of emergency to catch up.

— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) November 15, 2020

I agree with Eric Garland and others making similar predictions. Many American people are not taking this virus seriously enough and by the time they do, hospital systems in the US could be on the point of collapse. Imagine calling 911 to request an ambulance when your loved one has a heart attack and having no one ever come to take him or her to the hospital. The 911 emergency call system is “at a breaking point,” the American Ambulance Association, which represents all of the nation’s ambulance services, said in a letter recently.

Wear a mask, for God’s sakes. Social distance. Hunker down at home. Stay safe. Stay well. We are in for a rough winter.