Coronavirus is seriously dangerous

[operator kos]

I'm coming out of lurker mode to post on this topic due to a disturbing trend I'm seeing on Facebook and places like r/conspiracy. Multiple times a day now I'm seeing posts proclaiming that media reports about the dangers of coronavirus are wildly overblown and the government is just trying to scare us into surrendering our civil liberties. Let me be clear: these sorts of statements are dangerous misinformation that will literally get people killed.

I am a nurse working in the San Francisco Bay Area, currently one of the hardest hit areas in America. I can tell you from personal observation that hospitals will soon be completely overwhelmed if the current trajectory of the epidemic does not change. (And given the incredibly inept response from Team Trump, there is no reason to expect things to get better in the near future.) The shortage of vital medical supplies is very real. My facility started rationing out PPE a week ago. I am not part of a conspiracy of hundreds of thousands of other healthcare workers collectively working to deceive you. This virus is not a hoax. It is a very fast spreading disease with a much, much higher mortality rate than the flu, to which ignorant people are comparing it.

Stay the fuck home.

Wash your hands.

And, as the vanguard of the Internet conspiracy community, I implore you to vote down and argue against these misleading posts when you see them online.

[Grizzly]

Thanks for your front lines, work! But we already had a CV thread going.... Stay safe. Sounds trite, but I do mean it.

[MacCruiskeen]

I am a nurse working in the San Francisco Bay Area, currently one of the hardest hit areas in America. I can tell you from personal observation that hospitals will soon be completely overwhelmed if the current trajectory of the epidemic does not change.

You mean the US "healthcare" system is a disgrace to any nation, especially the world's richest.

The entire world knows that already.

(And given the incredibly inept response from Team Trump, there is no reason to expect things to get better in the near future.)

Right. Maybe Cuba can help? Try asking them.

The shortage of vital medical supplies is very real.

Of course it is. You are in the USA, the Homeland of Terror, the prime killer of humans both abroad and at home. Ask Cuba for help, if you are serious and for real and truly as desperate to help as you say you are. They will help, immediately and without question and unconditionally, if ur wunnerful gubmint finally allows them to do so.

My facility started rationing out PPE a week ago.e I am not part of a conspiracy of hundreds of thousands of other healthcare workers collectively working to deceive you. This virus is not a hoax. It is a very fast spreading disease with a much, much higher mortality rate than the flu, to which ignorant people are comparing it.

Oh really. So how many people have died, exactly? How old were they, exactly? How sick had they been beforehand, exactly? Give us some useful information about who is most at risk. Give numbers.

How poor are they? How much will they be charged?

Ffs.

Stay the fuck home

.

No. How dare you? Will you shoot us if we disobey?

Wash your hands

.

Shut the fuck up. We all wash our hands already.

And, as the vanguard of the Internet conspiracy community,

You are no vanguard of anything except panicmongering.

I implore you to vote down and argue against these misleading posts when you see them online.

Which posts? How are they misleading? Specify.

You clearly have tons of time on your hands.

[operator kos]

Mac, is there a point in any of your rambling bullshit?

Ask Cuba for help? "Um, hi, can I speak to President Hernandez? This is Jeremy from California..." Wtf?

You think I don't know how fucked the American health care system is? I live it every day.

Here are some numbers, since you apparently can't be arsed to look them up yourself: https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2020/coronavirus-map/

No, really, stay the fuck home. How dare I? I dare to tell you to stay the fuck home because selfish, ignorant pricks who don't stay the fuck home are the reason our hospitals are filling up at an unsustainable rate. Selfish, ignorant pricks who don't stay the fuck home are threatening the lives of people I am working very hard to save.

And no, I don't really have much time on my hands, because I actually do have to go to work, where I am also risking my own life, because selfish, ignorant pricks keep spreading this disease. So, to reiterate, wash your hands and stay the fuck home.

[MacCruiskeen]

You are completely full of shit. You respond to not one single point I made. Don't forget to gouge the impoverished while you are "medicating" their coughs, asthma, and anxiety attacks. "That'll be $3, 924.06, ma'am. Yes, we do bill you extra for those handkerchiefs".

I am a Nigerian prince. Send me all your money.

[Nordic]

Two days ago I dropped someone off at a hospital for their doctors appointment, and the place was shuttered. They had closed it. Her appointment had been cancelled. There were very few cars in the parking lot, and it was like a ghost town.

This in a major metropolitan area on the west coast of the US.

There weren’t dying patients everywhere. It didn’t look like a steadicam shot from Grey’s Anatomy. It looked like a closed hospital.

[operator kos]

You are completely full of shit. You respond to not one single point I made. Don't forget to gouge the impoverished while you are "medicating" their coughs, asthma, and anxiety attacks. "That'll be $3, 924.06, ma'am. Yes, we do bill you extra for those handkerchiefs".

I am a Nigerian prince. Send me all your money.

You didn't make any points, dipshit. And the fact that you think that I, a nurse, have anything to do with insurance companies or medical billing, further shows how clueless you are. And if you think the people in ICU whose lungs are filling up with fluid are having asthma or anxiety attacks... you know what, why am I bothering?

[operator kos]

Two days ago I dropped someone off at a hospital for their doctors appointment, and the place was shuttered. They had closed it. Her appointment had been cancelled. There were very few cars in the parking lot, and it was like a ghost town.

This in a major metropolitan area on the west coast of the US.

There weren’t dying patients everywhere. It didn’t look like a steadicam shot from Grey’s Anatomy. It looked like a closed hospital.

Yeah... most hospitals aren't letting people in for non-urgent appointments. Those that only handle routine, non-urgent care are temporarily closing. Why do you think that is?

[MacCruiskeen]

So which hospital, exactly, do you work in, o operator? Tell us. Hundreds of people -- honest decent intelligent humans, including many medical and nursing students -- will flock to help, if you honestly appeal for help, as opposed to ordering them to stay the fuck home, netflix n chill.

Which hospital?

[thrulookingglass]

Lulz on the title.

The lessons of our past have resurfaced.

Probably better to take care of one another than wage war on one another.

Just a guess.

Love all, serve all..

[Luther Blissett]

This thread is intense.

[JackRiddler]

PLEASE!!! Stop harrassing our long-time member and often very hard-working contributor, Operator Kos. He says what he says because he believes it. There's no need to demand his ID. He didn't say he wanted to shoot anyone for going outside, he didn't call for martial law, so please don't say crap like that (at least until he does!). He is asking that you don't go out, based on his view. There is no reason to call him names. Just relax and make your points without the extra insults and acrimony.

[MacCruiskeen]

Nobody demanded his ID. Nobody. Stop doing that, Jack. Stop misrepresenting what people say.

jfc

So which hospital so urgently needs help? Which one, operator?

Right, this is what I meant. You're asking what could amount to personal info and that is not far from allowing his identity to be revealed. I think you're flexible enough with the language to understand that is what I meant. Shortages of materials at hospitals are already the case and hardly need be proved, in part because all these self-loving consumers rushed to clear out the market of masks and gloves in the initial panic.

Just debate on the claims if you want, without resorting to the personal attack. Please. Kos (no relation!) is a long time member and there is no reason to suggest he does not believe what he says he believes. Please!

.

[Iamwhomiam]

Operator Kos, thank you. I hope you'll be able to avoid contracting this illness. I deeply respect your work.

I mentioned earlier my sister was hospitalized on March 13th after she fell and broke her Humerus. She's remained hospitalized in their PT/Transitional Care unit awaiting placement in a rehab facility or adult home, but that's now unlikely to happen, imo. They wanted to discharge her to her home today, but she cannot manage by herself. It seems they've cancelled the liver biopsy tomorrow she had been scheduled for for more than a month. First two, now 3 -10cm+ growths. I spoke frankly and honestly with her about triage, should she become ill. We sick old folk will die so a younger, more productive person may live on.

Testing has greatly increased in NYS and consequentially, the number of confirmed cases is skyrocketing.

[Iamwhomiam]

Nobody demanded his ID. Nobody. Stop doing that, Jack. Stop misrepresenting what people say.

jfc

So which hospital so urgently needs help? Which one, operator?

Who is in the SF area and can help? Which medical students in northern California are sitting on their arses right now netflixin n chillin? Who has a spare medical ventilator that belonged to a dead relative? How many retired medics & nurses are longing to be of some practical use?

No one will demand any money.

***Which hospital? Where?***

This repulsive bullshit needs to be dealt with firmly.