Just Wanted to Get this Message Out

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j1m2f3

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To Whom it may concern,

My wife and I are both nurses. This week she brought up her concern for not having the proper equipment to take care of COVID-19 patients. One of the managers actually said, “Everyone is going to get this anyway.” They currently are implementing a plan to wear HOMEMADE CLOTH MASKS. I am not kidding. This is their plan for the surgical mask shortage. Forget about getting an N95 mask. NURSES SHOULD BE PISSED! We took the so called “oath” in the U.S.A., the richest country in the world and the one with the best health care systems. Right? We thought protective gear would be available to us at all times. Upper management and CEOs should be held negligent for not being prepared. Instead they are sending their staff threatening emails while they hide in their billion dollar office buildings with rivers and waterfalls built right inside of them! Nurses are sent into dangerous conditions with in some cases now NO protective gear at all! We are risking the health of ourselves, our patients and our families. Don’t tell me that they didn’t know this was coming! As far as I’m concerned, every hospital that runs out of masks and vents should be held criminally accountable for their greed and lack of preparation! Check out this simple time-line:

2002 SARS outbreak;

2005 Bird Flu;

2009 H1N1;

2014 Ebola;

2015 Milton Johnson HIGHEST PAID CEO IN HEALTH CARE! Hospital Corporation of America gets a 20% bonus bringing his total compensation up from $14.6 million in 2014 to $17.8 million;

2015 Toby Cosgrove CEO Cleveland Clinic Base Pay: $4.5 million RANKED #2 hospital in the world;

2019 Gianrico Farrugia CEO Mayo Clinic Base Pay: $1.91 million Ranked #1 hospital in the world;

Average cost of an N95 mask: $0.75-$1.50

Average cost of a top of the line ventilator: $20,000-$40,000

I’ll let you do the math…and these wonderful individuals had no idea something like this could ever happen. Right?

I will leave you with this telling quote in light of the COVID-19 pandemic right off of the highest paid health care CEO’s website.

…“In the face of a threat, we don’t panic, we prepare.”

You sure as HELL have NOT prepared. They have all been getting filthy rich off the backs of nursing and now they threaten our jobs. Some of us WILL die because of this! Many people are saying that not many will die from COVID-19 but what about next time. To them you are expendable as long as they get their bonuses at the end of the year. What a sad state of the health care system and humanity we have become.
 
Here’s another thought to piggy-back onto your post.

PPE protects the HCP, but it also protects the other patients.

So here’s the moral dilemma. You show up to work. You accept the assignment, take report and custody of the narcotics keys and are occupying a med cart.

And you run out of PPE and can’t find anymore.

What do you ? Risk spreading the virus to your entire other assigned patients? Neglect their non-virus-related care? Risk spreading the disease back to your own community?

I dunno.
 
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My understanding is that mask are not effective against this virus because it is not airborne. People who have or are suspected to have it should wear mash to keep from spitting it out.

Also I don’t know if we are the richest country. We have a very high standard of living but our country (USA) is bankrupted!

The real pain will come at the end when so many businesses have failed and unemployment is sky high. Our whole economy may creator! Shutting everything down may not be the right answer.
Maybe letting this thing run is course would have been the better course. Yes, many would die but we would also build up an immunity to it.

Here is another thought. Many people in old people homes are praying to die. About two thirds of them get no visitors and we are spending untold money keeping them alive.

Just some thoughts!
 
Here’s a thought, maybe they’re taking precautions because the people who make said things are out of work right now?
 
Those health care CEOs sound criminally negligent. I personally also think that they should have shut things down even earlier. CDC set social distancing guidelines on February 28.
To the OP, you certainly have my heartfelt thanks. I wish there was a way to get what you need in time!
 
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PatK63 said:
We have a very high standard of living but our country (USA) is bankrupted!
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We can’t be though! People think the government should give people $1000. We must be rolling in it! 😉

I agree with the OP, if they want people to work, they need to give them the right tools to do so. For them (and every other hospital) to not have what they need for an emergency is a sin. The CEOs and all of the upper management have failed at their jobs and need to get pay cuts.

It won’t happen of course, but it should.
 
PatK63 said:
My understanding is that mask are not effective against this virus because it is not airborne
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It is airborne. Two studies, one Chinese and the other from the U.K., have established that the virus can be airborne in closed spaces for up to 30 minutes at least. The studies detail multiple cases where one person got onto a bus and after sitting in a separate area more than 6 feet away from where an infected individual sat, was still exposed and infected.
 
QContinuum said:
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PatK63:
My understanding is that mask are not effective against this virus because it is not airborne
Click to expand...
It is airborne. Two studies, one Chinese and the other from the U.K., have established that the virus can be airborne in closed spaces for up to 30 minutes at least. The studies detail multiple cases where one person got onto a bus and after sitting in a separate area more than 6 feet away from where an infected individual sat, was still exposed and infected.
Click to expand...
I don’t think these studies have been replicated to a convincing degree. The individual on the bus instance is highly unscientific because there is no controlled way of knowing the individual was actually infected by the person sitting 6 feet away.

The difference between airborne and aerosol ought to be clearly understood.

See this post and those following it.
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The new Coronovirus, Covid-19 and its spread globally Catholic Living
Not sure where that information came from. Perhaps it is a lack of understanding of the difference between airborne and aerosols. It is not an airborne virus, but it can be spread through aerosol (fine water droplets.) The distinction is that the virus does not survive long in the air so breathing, unless someone is breathing directly on you from very close quarters, it would not be a problem. That is why social distancing is important — 2 metres is recommended. The term aerosol, as far as I…
Click to expand...
 
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We are just borrowing the money! The plan must be to take away all the private wealth some day to pay it off! :cry:
 
Irishmom2 said:
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PatK63:
We have a very high standard of living but our country (USA) is bankrupted!
Click to expand...
We can’t be though! People think the government should give people $1000. We must be rolling in it! 😉

I agree with the OP, if they want people to work, they need to give them the right tools to do so. For them (and every other hospital) to not have what they need for an emergency is a sin. The CEOs and all of the upper management have failed at their jobs and need to get pay cuts.

It won’t happen of course, but it should.
Click to expand...
This is unfair coming at a time when the medical systems in all affected countries (including those with socialized medicine) are being overwhelmed beyond planned capacity. We may as well be unjustly blaming socialized medicine for shortages in countries like Italy, Canada and the UK. There are shortages of masks because of the global demand and because outsourcing has been unwisely limited to or focused on China, which is currently only operating at about 76% total capacity.

time.com

The Global Shortage of Medical Masks Won't Be Easing Soon

Manufacturers are struggling to keep up with astronomical worldwide demand
time.com time.com

Now, availability of supplies and the relative expertise required to run first class hospitals (and the remuneration that ought to be paid for doing so) are discussions to have, but not in the heat of the moment when anger and frustration are out looking for someone to blame.
 
It’s not unfair at all. The time to stock up is before the crisis. You don’t wait until it happens, you get prepared for it in case it does happen.
 
I am aware of the difference between aerosol (droplet) and airborne transmission. My undergrad is in public health.

The Chinese study, in particular, eliminated other causes of infection because all seven infected individuals were traced back to patient zero. The researchers used video footage to observe how these individuals interacted with patient zero. This is how they determined that even those who sat in a completely different section 30 minutes after zero left the bus, they are still exposed.

For anyone reading who may not be clear as to the difference between aerosol and airborne transmission.

“NIOSH defines aerosols as a suspension of tiny particles or droplets in the air.”

Source:


====================================

" The coronavirus can also become airborne, staying suspended in the air for hours, depending on the heat and humidity, they said."

Source:


====================================

“Droplet transmission is not to be confused with airborne transmission. Droplets do not remain suspended in the air. On the other hand, airborne transmission depends on virus-containing droplet nuclei (small-particle residue < 5 µm) of evaporated droplets or dust particles that can remain suspended in the air for long periods.”

Source:
https://www.scielosp.org/article/aiss/2013.v49n2/124-132/

=====================================

" The virus is typically transmitted through respiratory droplets, such as when someone sneezes or coughs, but a new study indicated that it [can remain suspended in the air] for up to three hours."

Source:

www.google.com

WHO recommends ‘airborne precautions’ after coronavirus found to survive in air

A new study indicates the virus can remain in the air for up to three hours.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
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200 Australian companies are working with the government here to convert their machinery to making masks, hazard suits and ventilators. Apparently it’s not that hard to make that conversion. There must be companies around the US who can do this.

Our Lady Help of Christians pray for us and for the whole world.
 
Let’s settle down a moment. People making cloth masks are not contributors to a false sense of security. Effective masks are in short supply. Is there a way to get the effective masks to be effective for a longer period of time? Yes, there is. Cloth masks over the N95 mask allows the N95 to be effective for a longer period of time. Calm down.

Yes, President Trump ordered the defunding of a government program intended to prepare us for the eventual (!!) pandemic, because bad things don’t happen … self-censoring…
 
The University of Hong Kong and Shenzhen Hospital tested various homemade masks and came up with one which is 90% as effective as a regular one, and apparently more effective than a cotton mask. This is the video:

Basically take two layers of paper towel, cover with a layer of facial tissue, cut in half if needed, tape the edges with masking tape to hold together, tape one of those plastic things with a metal wire in it (used to keep plastic bags closed) to be the nose piece, punch holes in each corner and put rubber bands through each and there you have a face mask.

I don’t know if its effectiveness requires the reuseable full face mask (use small binder clips to hold a plastic folder in place over your face).
 
Poor excuse here. They have put lives on the line and have had decades of time to prepare for this. The sad part is unless a ton of health care workers die they probably won’t be prepared for an even bigger one in the future.
 
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