Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be
The article by Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times says "the PCR test amplifies genetic matter from the virus in cycles; the fewer cycles required, the greater the amount of virus, or viral load, in the sample. The greater the viral load, the more likely the patient is to be contagious. This number of amplification cycles needed to find the virus, called, the cycle threshold, is never included in the results sent to doctors and coronavirus patients, although it could tell them how infectious the patients are."
They amplifications are sometimes as much as 45X over until they get a confirmed positive, and most of those over 30 are considered non-infectious persons.
That is why the sick public health experts want to test, test, test, as fast as they can, and the fact of the matter is we all have herd immunity from the weaker mutation of whatever it is.
Related:
That was another NYT piece of crap, and deceptive headline by the Globe since "officials estimated that 18,000 people had turned out to march in Berlin, and the park rally had just as many," if not more.
The most telling thing, however, was the omission of the speech by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It was an amazing speech that had to be watched more than once, as he firmly ensconced himself as the greatest Kennedy of all.
Meanwhile, the Globe completely ignored the protest in London, calling into question the veracity of the protests they do report.
There is a spiritual awakening occurring across the planet, and the perps are running scared!
Trump Program to Cover Uninsured Covid-19 Patients Falls Short of Promise
Abby Goodnough of the New York Times says "the program has drawn little attention since, but a review by The New York Times of payments made through it, as well as interviews with hospital executives, patients and health policy researchers who have examined the payments, suggest the quickly concocted plan has not lived up to its promise," -- just like Obama's Affordable Care Act -- and quotes "Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University, as saying “you’re seeing a clash between enhancing Medicaid to allow it to cover the uninsured, versus providing a fixed amount of bailout money for providers who can figure out how to get to it.”
That means skimping on PPE, according to the AP item the Globe carried today:
"Nurses on the front lines of New York’s COVID-19 pandemic are calling for the state to enact minimum staffing standards ahead of another wave of infections. Health care industry leaders, though, warn that passing such a law would saddle facilities with billions of dollars in extra costs they can't afford. Under legislation now before a legislative committee, the state would for the first time set minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, including a standard of one nurse for every two patients in intensive care units. California now has such a law. Other states don't. Supporters say the legislation would boost the quality of care, reduce staff burnout and let the state hold health care facilities accountable for inadequate staffing. Minimum staffing ratios also might have helped last spring, they say, when hospitals and nursing homes in the New York City metropolitan area were overwhelmed with a flood of COVID-19 patients. “If we had better staffing in place before COVID-19, if we weren’t stretched so thin, we would have been able to handle the flex and surge that was required,” said Pat Kane, who leads a union representing nurses statewide. Health industry groups have long called minimum staffing levels too costly and unnecessary. They say implementing staffing mandates now would be especially damaging, as hospitals face sharp revenue losses. It also is not clear whether staffing mandates would have made any difference in an extraordinary crisis like the one that enveloped the health care system last spring, when hospitals were seeing so many dying patients that they had to bring in refrigerator trucks to handle the bodies. Simultaneously, many health care workers themselves were falling ill, disrupting regular staffing plans. With help from the state and staffing agencies, hospitals brought in thousands of temporary staff, often people from other states, but it took weeks for the help to arrive."
They lost me with the lie regarding the refrigerated trucks, because those were proved to be empty and for show as part of the drill, and if they don't get what they want will they stop dancing and blow the whistle on this fraud?
It just may help save their careers and end his:
"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo promised in 2018 to set safe staffing levels, which he said was “linked to quality care,” but this month his health department released a report estimating the proposed staffing rules would force nursing homes and hospitals to hire a combined 35,000 nurses, at a cost of around $4 billion. “During the crisis, the increased costs would have been unbearable, coming on top of the extremely expensive surge costs frontline hospitals incurred,” Greater New York Hospital Association President Kenneth Raske told hospital leaders this month. “Now, in the COVID-19 transition era, when hospitals are fighting for their very survival due to a severe loss of revenue, such a mandate is unthinkable.” The state health department report said hospitals need to retain flexibility over staffing, especially during a crisis. Bea Grause, president of a statewide group representing public and nonprofit hospitals, said the report confirmed long-held concerns about “rigid, statewide government-mandated staffing ratios." Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a Democrat from New York City, called the report “disappointing.” “It acknowledges that higher levels of staffing saves lives,” he said, “but it doesn’t seem to offer any alternative to losing those lives.” Kane said the report repeats old arguments, ignores potential savings and inflates costs by over $1 billion. She said the state should have interviewed nurses on front lines and examined staffing levels in hard-hit minority communities. “Everything is such a fight for these nurses,” she said. “It’s one thing to say they’re heroes and they made the sacrifice, but listen to them, and that will show them you really mean that... Because they dread the idea, they can’t imagine going through something like that again.”
Then they will be woefully underprepared for the second wave and lockdown that is coming this cold and flu season as once again those cases will be dressed up and diagnosed as COVID.
Related:
Mass. reports 12 new deaths, 421 new cases due to COVID-19 Saturday
COVID-19 testing conducted on Buffum Street by the Lynn Community Health Center earlier this month (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff)
This is literally getting ridiculous, and they can have my spot at the front of the line.
