Thinking about ChefKarl’s Plurk about the Spanish Flu. Our kids and my mom are in Amarillo, panhandle of Texas. Pop ~200,000, more in the wider “panhandle”. Amarillo is the pop. center of the area. They are beginning to have exponential growth (doubling~every 4-5 days). The city has 2 hospitals. They have ~ 20ventilators between the two and half are in use.
I mean...how is that possible? 20 freaking vents for a population >200,000. And, the people in the city aren’t really taking it very seriously because their number are still pretty low.
Half of the ventilators in Amarillo being used
Amarillo group protests shelter in place order Fucking idiots
It is going to be a nightmare going forward.
I had to go get a few things to get through the week until our big shopping trip next weekend (milk, bread) and barely anyone except the store employees are wearing masks. There were still a lot less people in the store than there used to be, but only about 20% of customers were using any protection!
I ventured out yesterday, mask and gloves. Some wearing masks, people bringing their whole families into the store, saw at least 2 to 3 with newborns. 😮 I'm fearful for what will happen when they open things back up! They won't follow directions & common sense is a rarity... this isn't going to be good! And no I ain't drinking disinfectant!!! 🙄
WalMart, Aldi & Publix all counting people in. No "twosomes" if it puts them over the maximum number (50) in Aldi. We get to WalMart early enough to beat the crowds, so no waiting outside (yet). WE still have another week, at least, fur our "Stay at Home" order.
I do, however, sense "buckling" of the knees from the Guv'nor. He wants to reopen - peer pressure
I do, however, sense "buckling" of the knees from the Guv'nor. He wants to reopen - peer pressure
See, that’s the thing...people week before last we’re mostly singles and masked. I went to Walmart on Saturday, and hardly anyone masked, lots of families, with kids. TWO parents! I feel like once they started talking about “opening up”, people started taking it less seriously. And, all of our stores have maximum limits, but NO counters 
I mention all that about Amarillo because if they start having larger numbers, things are going to get very dicey. Amarillo serves as the “medical center” for the entire panhandle. Lots of much smaller communities. Some of those have hospitals, but none have ICUs. WTF is going to happen if things explode? Also, Amarillo has a meat packing plant
And, a couple of pretty good sized prisons. They have an outbreak at the plant. And, Chris’s son works at the prison as a psych person, they have about 20 prisoners and close to that employees with CV. It’s just dry grass waiting to catch.
Come to Georgia. It's not good.
isle
says
I was saying yesterday, the most dangerous thing has happened, people have had time to lose their fear, and this is all being normalized now. People not in heavier hit cities are slacking off bigtime. Humans are like birds, short attention spans, fear leaves, then more dying starts. Aka pre-wave 2. Add politics to that and it's going to be really bad.
....and those kids that Tittertat spoke about above, are wandering around touching (and playing) with all the things. 
SexySiloPuddinPie: I’m right next door in SC...we are in the same boat here
SqueakTomsen: 😂 those “kids” are all between 25-30. The better be behaving!
DimitriRizooto: boy, ain’t that the truth 😂
So hard to believe what you are saying about the healthcare facilities in Amarillo. Wow.....
As I watch other states beginning their "recovery" efforts, I am thankful for Gov Wolf here in PA who seems to really be paying attention to the data from our DOH while making decisions on how we move forward.
I know my cautious recovery opinion is not always popular - and I understand the deep need to get the economy moving again in order to reduce the risk for complete collapse - it comes from my long hours every day working through this pandemic in healthcare.
TBEB - I think plurk is mostly full of people who want to stay away from each other as long as possible.
isle - When you said fear leaves, I thought you meant birds fear leaves and humans fear leaves and I don't fear leaves and I think most birds don't and I was wondering why you thought everyone feared leaves and if you knew something that I didn't. I'm going to the yard to investigate the trees.
TBEB: well, having worked at both of those hospitals along with my first husband, it’s unbelievable to me, as well. I worked regular med/surg and he worked surgical ICU. He also worked ER in one of the outlying hospitals. I did some quick numbers in my head (many weeks ago, now), if I recall correctly, the hospital I worked at longest, it seemed like had
I read it the same way, RichardSmalls.
I thinked "Leaves are not scary. Big pile can be fun".
I thinked "Leaves are not scary. Big pile can be fun".
~350 beds total, with ~48 beds in three ICUs (16 per) + a robust surgical service (both hospitals are cert trauma centers) + recovery rooms (which I assume has some # of vents). So, I doubled that for two hospitals to be ~100 ICU beds and I assumed 1 vent/bed + vents in the OR and PACU. So, how the fuck are there something like 20 vents???
That just can’t be possible?
I mean...I know the vents they use in the OR are different than the other types, but I think most(?) surgical procedures are vented...and there are more than 20 OR suites (I think? I can’t remember, if I even ever knew).
DimitriRizooto: and yeah economy > lives is so repulsive.
SexySiloPuddinPie: hahahahahahaha
I laughed a lot harder and longer at that than I probably should have
