One impact of COVID that we don’t talk about enough is how people are avoiding medical care because of lack of precautions like masking in healthcare settings. This doesn’t show up as COVID deaths or hospitalizations but delays in screening, diagnosis, and treatment increases the mortality rate of other diseases like cancer.
@luckytran Am in that situation right now. Trying to decide if I cancel an appointment because both doctor and #hospital refuse to say masking will be used because “it’s not required, you can wear your own” and “you can cancel if you want - it’s your choice”. Some choice. Give up #care or go and risk life-threatening #nosocomial infection. Level of ignorance in medical staff & med admin is astounding. #covid
I've never panicked about #Covid, but I've always been aware that it is a very dangerous disease. And even if we can't hear it anymore: it's still there and it still puts vulnerable people at risk, such as my 82yo father, who has survived several heart attacks in the past.
A few days ago, he had to go to hospital again due to circulatory problems. While these problems were managed quickly, he contracted Covid in hospital (now for the 4th time) and now he is really struggling.
It simply beggars belief that with what we know and with the simple mitigations that are available anyone should contract #Covid — or really any airborne disease — in a healthcare setting.
Given that basic ethics don't seem to have an effect, and I suspect that fines would be passed on to insurers, I'd like to see hospital administrators charged with reckless endangerment. That might get their attention.
It makes some sense to me why medical facilities are hesitant to upgrade indoor air quality - though the direct costs of upgrade are quite low, acknowledgment of the problem could lead to spiraling costs, and even liability. This is obviously not OK, but it makes sense.
Could someone explain to me why health insurers, who are presumably way LESS ambivalent about the health costs side of the equation, are not pressuring facilities to improve and reduce the insane levels of nosocomial infection we have due to foot-dragging?
This is actually a serious question - there has to be a reason, or we would already be hearing of this approach for IAQ advocates, etc., right?
A hospital stay was a death sentence for a local centenarian. I'm told that a 100 year old woman who lived a few doors down from Jersey City Free Books suffered a fall at home. This mishap was serious enough to require hospitalization. There, she was infected with SARS CoV 2 and quickly died.
A related discussion is health care facilities as threats to public health. I recall a study of ATMs near hospitals as possible shared hearths, for here the spread of disease instead of culture. I am always shocked to see doctors or nurses in their work clothes on public transportation.
Health care personnel wearing scrubs on their morning commute carry the current Top 40 disease causing organisms playing on public transportation in to the hospital. Wearing the same back home gives the general populace a chance of being exposed to suitcase pathogens and uber-mutated microorganisms having gained virulence and/or transmissibility in the health care setting a la mode Paul Ewald.
Health care workers should shower and change into uniforms upon arriving at the hospital. End of shift, they should again shower and put their street clothes back on. The garments worn while working should be laundered at the facility.
It's understandable that health care workers are proud of their service and want to signal it. Perhaps the institutions could issue jackets with "colors" like those worn by motorcycle clubs. On top could be the city. The main logo would represent the specific hospital. Patches would designate schools, degrees and specialties.
Official garb would also facilitate responding to an emergency.
typical outpatient setting, the required indoor #CO2 concentration at which R0 does not exceed 1 is below 620 ppm w no mask, 1000 ppm w a surgical mask and 16000 ppm w an N95 mask. In a typical inpatient setting, otoh the required indoor CO2 concentration is below 540 ppm with no mask, 770 ppm with a surgical mask, and 8200 ppm with an N95 mask. These findings facilitate the establishment of a strategy for preventing #airborne transmission in hospitals. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37286835/#nosocomial
Some hospitals refusing to mask anymore because they claim people are likely to get #COVID elsewhere anyway. That's a dereliction of duty. Regardless of what is happening elsewhere, no one should ever have to risk their health while seeking medical care. Do no harm.
@luckytran And yet hospitals is where you get a higher concentration of vulnerable and at-risk patients. Even catching a common cold from someone in a crowded waiting room can trigger serious problems in people with #asthma, #cancer, transplant recipients, etc. There must be data out there showing a drop in #nosocomial infections during #mask wearing during mandates?
Not just hospitals, any healthcare setting where vulnerable people and sick people are likely to mix -- including their FP's clinic. #COVID#IDmastodon#MedMastodon