Doctors fear health care collapse amid omicron surge

[paxmao]

It does not seem that Omicron is being a problem in most of the Western world, where a significant number of the population have chosen to take the so called vaccines (they are not really vaccines). The statistics are many times presented in a way that is biased, e.g. there are more omicron cases detected per day than ever in any wave - but not mentioning that intensive care units are at just 25% of use.

Overall, the impact in health will be more about the economic downturn suffered.

[Silberman]

Maybe the numbers will eventually prove me right, but I'm not worried about the new Omicron variant. The natural tendency in previous epidemics was to evolve to less deadly variants, and in some cases to disappear. In those times, no vaccines, no masks, nothing. I'm talking from the flu epidemics of ancient Greece, through the Black Death to the present day.

The fear of collapse is not from now, it is from the beginning of the epidemic. In fact, some hospitals collapsed, as in Italy. I don't know what will happen in the US but at least where I live Omicron does not seem to be a big threat.

I agree with this, most of the time the most deadly version of a pandemic will be the first strain, after it the strains evolve to spread even faster and to more individuals at the cost of their lethality, so while I think that at some point most of the people around the world will get this new variant, it is not going to be as bad as what we saw at the beginning of the pandemic, and the hospitals will not get overcrowded even with a huge number of people fighting the disease, as most of them will get better with over the counter medicine and rest on their homes.

[SirLancelot]

most of the time the most deadly version of a pandemic will be the first strain, after it the strains evolve to spread even faster and to more individuals at the cost of their lethality, so while I think that at some point most of the people around the world will get this new variant, it is not going to be as bad as what we saw at the beginning of the pandemic, and the hospitals will not get overcrowded even with a huge number of people fighting the disease, as most of them will get better with over the counter medicine and rest on their homes.

Yes, I was also going to say the same thing about this version of the coronavirus, Omicron. I read about it on the WHO website, and from what I understood, it is not as deadly as the first version of the covid19 virus, because they have said that there has been less hospitalization, but even at that, they still advised people to do the necessary things that they are meant to do to avoid the spread of the virus, so that there wouldn’t be a lot of strain on healthcare workers.

So, this version seems to be less severe, but even at that that,it doesn’t mean we should be careless about it. We should all still be very careful and watch our steps and do our best as much as possible to make sure that we avoid this virus and put an end to it once and for all.

[davis196]

Cryptocurrencies, I think could be developed to improve healthcare in the united states and worldwide. There are many obvious steps to improve healthcare. People taking steps to exercise more and be healthier would go a long way towards making healthcare more affordable for all. As would people refraining from drug and substance abuse. These are not necessarily issues for government to solve. But has more to do with choices made on an individual level.

How can cryptocurrencies improve the healthcare system and make healthcare more affordable?
I don't see a way for this happen.
Changing the currency you use to buy something won't make the thing you are buying cheaper.
The problem with the US healthcare system is that it is more "free market" oriented than the European healthcare systems.Creating a "healthcare market" is a bad thing,because the market can be distorted and this can increase the prices to unprecedented levels.Almost all the affordable healthcare systems around the world are dominated by the governments and the private sector inside the healthcare system is heavily regulated.
By the way,I'm sure that the Omicron wave won't lead to the collapse of any healthcare system located in the developed countries.I'm not sure about the underdeveloped countries,though.

[Kakmakr]

It turns out that the so-called "Omicron" variant was just a storm in a cup and it was heavily hyped as being one of the worst variants we had. Most medical staff agree that previous variants like the Delta variant was much worst and that the Omicron variant was more like the flu for most people.  

Yes, some people with underlying medical conditions did experience severe symptoms and some even died, but more people died from previous variants. So, did the media and governments overreact to this so-called NEW variant.... Yes! they did...  and they were proven wrong.

Hospitals report a much lower hospitalization and incubation rate and Phizer even received the green light for their new pill that will reduce adverse reactions to the Covid virus.  

[Smitty Werben Man Jensen]

Maybe the numbers will eventually prove me right, but I'm not worried about the new Omicron variant. The natural tendency in previous epidemics was to evolve to less deadly variants, and in some cases to disappear. In those times, no vaccines, no masks, nothing. I'm talking from the flu epidemics of ancient Greece, through the Black Death to the present day.

The fear of collapse is not from now, it is from the beginning of the epidemic. In fact, some hospitals collapsed, as in Italy. I don't know what will happen in the US but at least where I live Omicron does not seem to be a big threat.

I agree with this, most of the time the most deadly version of a pandemic will be the first strain, after it the strains evolve to spread even faster and to more individuals at the cost of their lethality, so while I think that at some point most of the people around the world will get this new variant, it is not going to be as bad as what we saw at the beginning of the pandemic, and the hospitals will not get overcrowded even with a huge number of people fighting the disease, as most of them will get better with over the counter medicine and rest on their homes.

If we compare it from the previous covid case with the omicron type of covid case, the transmission and other impacts are not as bad as before,
but that doesn't mean we just ignore it because after all we remain careful and take care of ourselves

[barbara44]

I believe that if the government can plan well on this, then it would be an issue that would be solved. The most problem that we do have with the government is that they seem to be neglecting a lot of things. There are things that would be happening, and it would seem like the government is totally neglecting everything and acting like they are not even aware of it.  If they can bring out their time and table the matter to discuss it, then they will definitely come up with an idea on how to go about all this.

Although I don’t really get why you attached cryptocurrency to that, because I can’t really wrap my mind around how cryptocurrency would really be of help in a situation like this. Cryptocurrency is useful in the areas that we know of, but I just can’t really understand how it is going to be helpful here, I would appreciate if you can explain it so that others will get to know, thank you.

[Oceat]

I do not think that we should be afraid of the collapse of healthcare due to the emergence of a new strain of coronavirus Omicron. It is predicted that by the end of this year, the coronavirus and its varieties will no longer bother people as much as they do now. Partly because the pandemic will subside, and partly because the media will not pay such close attention to it and constantly cover the statistics of cases and deaths.
In addition, the main danger of any virus manifests itself in the first years; in almost three years of fighting covid-19, a certain practice has been developed and many vaccines against this virus have been developed. So everything will be fine.

I hope so that it would happen by the end of this year since covid-19 is causing a lot of trouble to the whole world.
But what if you are wrong about the prediction then I guess we're all fucked up, right?
And also, I don't know if the health care workers would just take advantage of this pandemic if the media keep reporting the covid-19 cases almost everyday. If the prediction of the other is true like there's another variant of virus again, then I don't this year will be enough just like what they have predicted.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I call BS on this one, and I don't care how many scientists/doctors from Harvard are interviewed.  And not for nothing, but I knew a Harvard medical school grad who turned into a disgraced neurosurgeon and "doctor feelgood" who all the opiate addicts would flock to with cash in hand to get their Percocets--which is to say that I don't trust arguments from credentials per se.

But the reason I see this bit of news as crap is because we've heard this story before--right at the beginning of the pandemic, in fact.  Remember all those stories of how the US couldn't get enough ventilators to keep up with demand and that coroner's offices couldn't keep up with the number of corpses because of COVID (I think that was in NYC)?  Well, those stories got the fear response they were out for and then quietly disappeared once the real situation turned out not to be nearly as bad as all the talking heads were saying.

You want to get back to normal?  Take some personal responsibility and just go back to normal and stop living in fear and government mandates.  They don't know anything about what's going on anyway, so why let them tell you what the facts are or what you should be doing with your life?  Unless you're 75 or older or have serious comorbidity, your chances of dying from COVID are slim to none.  And if you fit into any of those categories, then keep yourself safe but let the rest of us be free.

where a significant number of the population have chosen to take the so called vaccines (they are not really vaccines).

I'm not an anti-vaxxer or conspiracy theorist and don't mean to come off that way.  I'm curious about your statement.  If those aren't vaccines, what do you think they are? 

[ChiBitCTy]

Met with one of my clients today (who just happened to mention bitcoin , asking me if I thought it was a good investment etc ) who works for a hospital and said omicron has been an absolute disaster for them. She said she had one person who’s been sitting in the ER for over 36 hours right now just trying to get in to be seen and a proper room. She said she and other medical professionals at the hospital have been completely overwhelmed. Just thought I’d share some insight in to what we are seeing here in Chicago.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Just thought I’d share some insight in to what we are seeing here in Chicago.

In my above post, it probably sounds like I'm minimizing experiences like yours, but that wasn't my intent.  Still, I think the fear is overblown and the media won't let up. 

I have to wonder how many people are visiting emergency rooms because they think they have COVID and are frightened unreasonably that they might die from it, i.e., they don't belong in any of the high-risk categories.  From everything I've read the omicron strain (not sure why they're called "variants" now, but it could be my ignorance) is more transmissible but far less lethal than the other ones.

I'd also add that I think people are being fed the wrong statistics with regard to COVID, and that's purposely being done to crank up the fear factor--and remember, I'm not a conspiracy theorist!  All I hear about is positivity rates and transmissibility, when the only statistic that should matter is death rate.  No matter how hard we try, people are going to get sick.  The government's policies should be aimed solely at reducing mortality, and even then I think society is sacrificing a lot of freedom in the name of safety and security.  That's bad.

The health care system isn't going to collapse.  There may be some strain on its resources, but again....that's what we were being told in 2020.

[Fortify]

A greater quantity of COVID driven healthcare demand coupled with higher strain on existing healthcare. Could result in scarcity which will inevitably drive healthcare prices even higher. If the united states thought healthcare was expensive pre COVID crisis. I can't imagine how much worse conditions could potentially deteriorate post COVID crisis.

While certainly the worst case scenario is bad enough. It could also trigger a resurgence of home remedies and snake oil medical treatments. Due to people not being able to afford medical care. Faith healers, alternative health movements and holistic remedies could all make a strong resurgence.

Cryptocurrencies, I think could be developed to improve healthcare in the united states and worldwide. There are many obvious steps to improve healthcare. People taking steps to exercise more and be healthier would go a long way towards making healthcare more affordable for all. As would people refraining from drug and substance abuse. These are not necessarily issues for government to solve. But has more to do with choices made on an individual level.

High numbers of americans drive across the border to mexico every year to receive healthcare treatments at greatly discounted prices. That is probably the best option many have to receive affordable heatlhcare. But surely we can do better than that?

I'm not sure cryptocurrencies can provide any help to this situation, however the blockchain technology surely has functional and practical usage within the medical supply chain. Unfortunately politicians in the USA care more about appeasing lobbyists (who have the financing to fund their opponents instead) rather than looking out for the best interests of the majority of people. Until lobbying is banned (along with stock market insider trading by the very same politicians) then it will be almost impossible to fight back against the established order of billionaires consolidating money into fewer hands. You have a rather sick society when a handful of people earn more in a few days of January than the rest of the country will for the whole year combined. Politicians work on relatively short timescales, however these fixes need to stay in place for long term to work.

[Darker45]

The healthcare system could make use of the blockchain technology to improve their services and become more efficient, but I cannot understand why a cryptocurrency has to be made. How would the healthcare services improve with a token? There have been health and healthcare related crypto projects in the past. I guess almost all of them have already been abandoned.

Anyway, on the individual level what a person should care about is his/her health not healthcare. Healthcare could either be provided by the government or by private healthcare facilities, but governments should always make sure that healthcare services are available and accessible, affordable, and effective.

[tygeade]

A greater quantity of COVID driven healthcare demand coupled with higher strain on existing healthcare. Could result in scarcity which will inevitably drive healthcare prices even higher. If the united states thought healthcare was expensive pre COVID crisis. I can't imagine how much worse conditions could potentially deteriorate post COVID crisis.

While certainly the worst case scenario is bad enough. It could also trigger a resurgence of home remedies and snake oil medical treatments. Due to people not being able to afford medical care. Faith healers, alternative health movements and holistic remedies could all make a strong resurgence.

For me, the emergency of this new variant called Omicron should not lead us to panic or into thinking that the health care system is going to break down. It should be a clarion call for each and every one to play his part in making sure that the rate at which it moves from one person to another is controlled to the barest form.

And we can do this by simple obeying our doctors by getting vaccinated, receiving our booster jab, putting on mask in large gatherings and eating health to keep our immune system strong to be able to attack even if we get infected.

And with this hospitals will not fall into crisis and their will be no need to have low staffing.

[kaya11]

In my country, people are scared of the new strain, and instead of not spreading panic, they are instead escalating the situation. Having survived the early strains of COVID-19, everyone runs at the slightest sign of a cold to medical institutions, thereby creating a burden on doctors. But not everyone comes there with Covid, but because of the large accumulation, they also acquire this virus for themselves.
I do not see any problem with this virus, since there are many ways to treat it today. In addition to the fact that vaccines have been invented, so if people themselves are more consistent in their decisions, I think there should not be any collapse.

As it has been known now to the public, omicron seemed to have less dangerous as compared to older variants but said to be more contagious. By now, I believe that healthcare industry can better manage this situation as compared to when we were just starting the covid virus pandemic. If the symptoms are mild and not threatening, most of them are just advised to stay at home. And also, when it comes to the development of vaccine, I think, scientists will not be having difficulty of targeting this omicron variant in their developments. They already developed the covid vaccine and they will know how to adjust with this new variant or other emerging variants.

Despite the sacrifices of those scientist who were researching for vaccines, the discipline in our country is getting worst. Covid cases surges more that we imagine just because the hard headed people violates the protocols of our local authorities. They party whenever they want and go mingling, socializing and now it the active cases are somewhat unexplainable.

[Oasisman]

Met with one of my clients today (who just happened to mention bitcoin , asking me if I thought it was a good investment etc ) who works for a hospital and said omicron has been an absolute disaster for them. She said she had one person who’s been sitting in the ER for over 36 hours right now just trying to get in to be seen and a proper room. She said she and other medical professionals at the hospital have been completely overwhelmed. Just thought I’d share some insight in to what we are seeing here in Chicago.

The same thing here in my place. A lot of people has been rushed to the hospital because of Omicron cases, but yeah they're milder than the original Covid. If you have breath or lung related case when you come to the hospital, you'll probably end up to the long queue of the same cases before you can secure a room plus the protocols will even make you stay outside longer for more than 36hrs.

I don't know but I guess we're also in the state of seasonal flu. A lot of people also got sick with high fever, colds, and cough. Even me I just recovered after a week of suffering from a Covid like flu symptoms.

[Findingnemo]

Definitely yes, that's why governments are implementing border cut down, lockdown and restrictions, booster vaccines,etc because there is not enough doctor to diagnose and treat patients if the spreading speed persists same as of now in the next few weeks. Well surprisingly omicron surge really affected the psychology of people because I am having flue, headache and slight pain in the throat for the past three days and when I look into the Google all the symptoms matches with Omicron.

[Cookdata]

What doesn't kill you will only stronger! I'm not immune to any virus but I have tried my best to stay out if any diseases and virus that may attacked my system, the way the government is tackling this virus is becoming a bone  that has hang on the neck and when use water to flush it down, it refuse to go down, thats exactly what is happening with this governments and the virus.
I just hope, one very day, our children will once go back how they live there normally without been cage and instructed on how to interact and move with social life.

[iv4n]

...
I just hope, one very day, our children will once go back how they live there normally without been cage and instructed on how to interact and move with social life.

I think some "new normal" is coming, or it came already... and that "new normal" has very little with some normal things from my childhood, without TV's and computers, and many other things that are "so normal"! Sometimes I try to remember the times when we didn't have mobile phones, how everything worked back than?!

Healthcare collapsed a long time ago, at least in my country! It was bad before, now it's a disaster! Before the pandemic waiting for magnetic resonance imaging was around 7-8 months, now it's over a year... my country is in some transition before everything was free, now we have many private doctors and sometimes the only way to get yourself checked is going to them and paying! It's not a problem in paying, but they take a part of my paycheck every month for healthcare, but they don't provide it, in the end I still need to go private doctor and pay more!

[so98nn]

The problem is not with the healthcare system it’s with the peeps who is not agreeing to COVID restrictions that they should be focusing on. Many of them are creating buzz about why they should wear the mask, why they should be injected with the vaccine etc.

The thing is that’s the only way to break the chain of pandemic otherwise it’s way easy for virus to spread and multiply.

Being biotech guy, I know one thing for sure; we are way way away from closing down the pandemic. As peeps are not listening to the preventions they will give the virus a chance to flourish in our bodies and it records the current state of genetic information and as it passes on infecting others it goes mutated. There comes the scope of another variant and it goes on.

I think everyone should be educated in this regards so that they would understand why it’s important to be protected rather than have the temporary freedom!

The faster it spread the faster it’s gonna mutate all the time. That’s what the function of survival is in the first place!

I hope that healthcare system will hold on for now the burden which it has got.