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by capdeck 1646 days ago
> I would still call that a victory overall.

Humanity declared victory over every single pathogen to date (eradicated, contained or seasonal) because we are still here and thriving. We should go on with our lives.

1 comments

In the mean time we should do whatever we can to avoid filling hospitals to capacity.
Maybe build more hospitals? I mean, in march of 2020 we expressly locked down to build up healthcare capacity. Where is it?
It's almost completely a staffing issue at this point. Good thing we fired a bunch of healthcare workers because they didn't want to get vaccinated!
> It's almost completely a staffing issue at this point

So these politicians should treat this like an emergency and drive dumptrucks of money up to healthcare staff not working and get them back. Get nursing students. Do whatever it takes. Think outside of the box. This is supposed to be an emergency, is it not?

I mean, if it was an emergency and healthcare was truly an issue, why aren't those hospital tents and hospital ships docked in the harbor of every major city? "Lack of staff" is just an excuse in an emergency. You work around it. Make it happen. It's an emergency, right?

And if it isn't an emergency, why are we mandating anything at all? Shouldn't we all be going about our lives like we did prior to march 2020? If it isn't an emergency why are governments still using emergency powers to push mandates onto citizens instead of actually dealing with hospital shortages?

None of this makes any sense at all when you really start thinking about it. Absolutely none of it... Never did, never will...

... or maybe we should stop closing hospitals during the pandemic?

[US Closing Hospitals At Record Pace During Pandemic - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz46ZQSRdRE)

Sounds good. 2 years on with enough vaccines and antiviral pills on the way if you still believe hospitals are "filled to capacity", I'd like what you're smoking.
I’m smoking a wadded-up copy of that Rolling Stone article about gunshot victims waiting for the ER.
Sure, but hospitals are run at a level to hit peak capacity at the point when vitamin D deficiency peaks.

Here's LA County using overflow tents in 2018 because the flu season was particularly bad: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-flu-demand-2018...

So it's not like this is some new threat. "2 weeks to flatten the curve" came along with some understanding that hospitals would increase their resources. Instead, in many states, they've spent more time working out which unvaccinated staff to fire and how than they have increasing staffing levels.