Report from a COVID ward.

[artringwald]

Our local TV station did a segment from the St. Cloud Hospital.

Minnesota Clinics Report Majority Of COVID Hospitalizations Are Under 65 Years Old Now

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the CentraCare health care system in Central Minnesota says 70% of their hospitalizations are patients are under the age of 65.

minnesota.cbslocal.com

Since our DIL is a unit coordinator on the COVID section of that hospital's ER, I shared the TV's report with her. This was her reaction.

A young co-worker is in ICU right now with this. I worked with her last week and just couple days later she came in fighting for life. She was intubated and then coded 2x’s, kidneys started failing and now on dialysis. Hope she pulls thru.

It’s killing me to see people more scared of the vax than this particular COVID strain.

 

[moonstone]

We are having the same problem in Canada, it is really hitting the younger folks now, especially the variant strain. Here are 2 recent news stories from up here;
No one is safe, says healthy young man hospitalized due to COVID-19 variant - CityNews Toronto
Teenager dies of COVID-19 in Montreal, youngest victim of pandemic in Quebec | CBC News
So sad.


~Diane

 

[RX8]

Did your DIL’s coworker also work with in the Covid section of the ER? If so, was the coworker vaccinated? I would think anyone working with Covid patients in the ER would have been vaccinated. If so, that makes this even more concerning.

 

[Tacoma]

They just shut down our schools in Calgary from grade 7 -12 since numbers are so high and spread is evident in schools. This was not a health order from the goverment (which is reluctant to bring in stricter measures) but instead our 2 largest school boards are making the decision to put classes online for the next 2 weeks. I know very few HS students these days (only the ones I tutor) but all of my Calgary students have been in quarantine at least once since the middle of March. Hopefully this will help slow the number of cases as we are not vaccinating as quickly as in the US.

 

[uop1497]

We are having the same problem in Canada, it is really hitting the younger folks now, especially the variant strain. Here are 2 recent news stories from up here;
No one is safe, says healthy young man hospitalized due to COVID-19 variant - CityNews Toronto
Teenager dies of COVID-19 in Montreal, youngest victim of pandemic in Quebec | CBC News
So sad.


~Diane

I just hope the vaccine Covid-19 can protect people from variant strain. If not, what can be done about it. Will there be another new vaccine Covid-19 and people will go thru another round to be vacinated.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I think that another factor why the younger people are making up a higher percentage of people catching Covid is that close to 70% of the people 65 and older have received at least one vaccine.

It is a concern though, that the newer strain seems to be more dangerous to young people. Early on, I don't believe that was the case.

 

[artringwald]

I just hope the vaccine Covid-19 can protect people from variant strain. If not, what can be done about it. Will there be another new vaccine Covid-19 and people will go thru another round to be vacinated.

Good question. Here's a discussion about vaccines and variants.

Can the Covid Vaccine Protect Me Against Virus Variants? (Published 2021)

Vaccines do a good job of protecting us from coronavirus, but fear and confusion about the rise of variants have muddled the message. Here are answers to common questions.

www.nytimes.com

In case you encounter a paywall, here's part of it.

Which variant am I most likely to encounter in the United States?
The variant called B.1.1.7, which was first identified in Britain, is now the most common source of new infections in the United States. This highly contagious variant is also fueling the spread of the virus in Europe and has been found in 114 countries. A mutation allows this version of the virus to more effectively attach to cells. Carriers may also shed much higher levels of virus and stay infectious longer.

Do the vaccines work against B.1.1.7?
All of the major vaccines in use — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik and Novavax — have been shown to be effective against B.1.1.7.

 

[moonstone]

I was reading about and trying to find more information about the possibility of mixing the different types of vaccines. There are a few countries doing studies on people who received a mRNA (Pfizer) then an viral vector (AstraZeneca) or visa versa, to see if getting some of each type is more effective. It seems logical to me that it would help but who knows.

~Diane

 

[artringwald]

Here's an update. "My coworker was just moved out of icu. they’ve been doing a lot of different therapies, it’s hard for her to sit, grasp - hold phone, talk, but slowly getting better."

I'm glad to hear that she's improving.

 

[Paumavista]

April 2021......."A worker on the COVID ward in the ER section of a hospital becomes deathly ill from COVID" - - Honestly this is beyond my comprehension (I don't claim to be the brightest individual.......but). Is this individual volunteering in a 3rd world country (or a country in which vaccines are unavailable)? How is it that someone who works in a US hospital....in the COVID section of the ER, personal witness to those with the virus, offered vaccines before anyone else in the US.....choose NOT to be vaccinated and continue to work, watching people continue to become ill & DIE! Because they are afraid or don't believe in the safety of a vaccine??.........why then choose to be a hospital worker in a COVID ER unit? (medical people are required in so many different work environments)? WHY expose yourself (your family) like this? This does not seem noble, heroic, or intelligent........

 

[SueDonJ]

April 2021......."A worker on the COVID ward in the ER section of a hospital becomes deathly ill from COVID" - - Honestly this is beyond my comprehension (I don't claim to be the brightest individual.......but). Is this individual volunteering in a 3rd world country (or a country in which vaccines are unavailable)? How is it that someone who works in a US hospital....in the COVID section of the ER, personal witness to those with the virus, offered vaccines before anyone else in the US.....choose NOT to be vaccinated and continue to work, watching people continue to become ill & DIE! Because they are afraid or don't believe in the safety of a vaccine??.........why then choose to be a hospital worker in a COVID ER unit? (medical people are required in so many different work environments)? WHY expose yourself (your family) like this? This does not seem noble, heroic, or intelligent........

Though not the same percentage as is found in non-medical personnel, yes, there are definitely US medical workers who are anti-vaxx, and for the same reasons - some people are anti-vaxx as a rule and some are wary of vaccines that haven't yet been approved by the FDA. Plus there is the unique, profoundly sad - undeniable - situation with this particular virus and vaccine where too many people are allowing leaders of a certain political persuasion to convince them to act against their own best interests.

And while medical workers (just like military members) have the right to refuse the COVID vaccine while it's not yet FDA-approved, the ones I know have not been given the choice of working or not working with COVID patients. Their choice is to either accept their assignments or quit their jobs. That's what makes them noble, heroic and intelligent - that the overwhelming majority have been willing right from the start to accept the dangerous risk despite the horrible things that they've been seeing with their own eyes every single day that they show up to work. And thank God they have, because if they weren't willing to continue working then most of the 570,000+ people who died wouldn't have had anyone at their bedsides.

 

[Firepath]

I respect their choice, but maybe she is in the wrong line of work.

 

[Passepartout]

April 2021......."A worker on the COVID ward in the ER section of a hospital becomes deathly ill from COVID" - - Honestly this is beyond my comprehension (I don't claim to be the brightest individual.......but). Is this individual volunteering in a 3rd world country (or a country in which vaccines are unavailable)? How is it that someone who works in a US hospital....in the COVID section of the ER, personal witness to those with the virus, offered vaccines before anyone else in the US.....choose NOT to be vaccinated and continue to work, watching people continue to become ill & DIE! Because they are afraid or don't believe in the safety of a vaccine??.........why then choose to be a hospital worker in a COVID ER unit? (medical people are required in so many different work environments)? WHY expose yourself (your family) like this? This does not seem noble, heroic, or intelligent........

From the above, it isn't entirely clear whether or not the affected worker was vaccinated. It seems that others who've replied assume s/he was not. Either way, vaccines are NOT 100% effective, and if there is one thing we've learned about COVID-19, it's that it effects different people very differently. One person may be totally asymptomatic, and their close family members will suffer 'long hauler' debilitating illness or even death. Personally, I urge all my friends and family to get vaccinated, but I won't hog-tie them and drag the reluctant ones to a clinic, as much as it seems like a good idea.

JIm

 

[artringwald]

April 2021......."A worker on the COVID ward in the ER section of a hospital becomes deathly ill from COVID" - - Honestly this is beyond my comprehension (I don't claim to be the brightest individual.......but). Is this individual volunteering in a 3rd world country (or a country in which vaccines are unavailable)? How is it that someone who works in a US hospital....in the COVID section of the ER, personal witness to those with the virus, offered vaccines before anyone else in the US.....choose NOT to be vaccinated and continue to work, watching people continue to become ill & DIE! Because they are afraid or don't believe in the safety of a vaccine??.........why then choose to be a hospital worker in a COVID ER unit? (medical people are required in so many different work environments)? WHY expose yourself (your family) like this? This does not seem noble, heroic, or intelligent........

My DIL works in the COVID ward and got vaccinated early. I don't know if her co-worker also works in the COVID ward or if she got vaccinated. Although rare, fully vaccinated people have still been hospitalized from COVID and even died.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 5,800 out of 75 million fully vaccinated people in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19. Of these “breakthrough cases,” 396 were hospitalized and 74 people died. The CDC defines a breakthrough case as someone who gets sick, either symptomatically or asymptomatically, 14 or more days after full vaccination.

 

[rapmarks]

We are having the same problem in Canada, it is really hitting the younger folks now, especially the variant strain. Here are 2 recent news stories from up here;
No one is safe, says healthy young man hospitalized due to COVID-19 variant - CityNews Toronto
Teenager dies of COVID-19 in Montreal, youngest victim of pandemic in Quebec | CBC News
So sad.


~Diane

We just received notice that a Canadian member of our Florida community died of Covid. He never came down this year and not sure when he came down with it, family may have waited to inform our community

 

[moonstone]

Covid still hitting the younger folks.
13-year-old Brampton, Ont. girl who died of COVID-19 passed away same day she was taken to hospital | CTV News (Brampton is near the Toronto airport)
B.C. links death of baby to COVID-19, as officials announce 17 deaths over past 3 days | CBC News
Then there is this good news (so far) story about a friend & co-worker of our DS's friend. Roberta Place PSW has 'very successful' double lung transplant, family says - Barrie News (barrietoday.com) He works (worked) in a Nursing Home that was hit hard by Covid. He contracted the virus right before the staff and residents received their first vaccination.

~Diane

 

[Tamaradarann]

From the above, it isn't entirely clear whether or not the affected worker was vaccinated. It seems that others who've replied assume s/he was not. Either way, vaccines are NOT 100% effective, and if there is one thing we've learned about COVID-19, it's that it effects different people very differently. One person may be totally asymptomatic, and their close family members will suffer 'long hauler' debilitating illness or even death. Personally, I urge all my friends and family to get vaccinated, but I won't hog-tie them and drag the reluctant ones to a clinic, as much as it seems like a good idea.

JIm

I agree with you that you can suggest but you can't "hog-tie and drag reluctant ones to a clinic" to get vaccinated. However, how are you treating those friends and family members that WON'T get vaccinated?

 

[Passepartout]

I agree with you that you can suggest but you can't "hog-tie and drag reluctant ones to a clinic" to get vaccinated. However, how are you treating those friends and family members that WON'T get vaccinated?

You just can't fix stupid. But since we feel protected, we are slowly re-entering 'society', without asking "Are you vaxxed?' It just wore out as a conversation starter.