"At this point, our
healthcare system in this country is hanging on by the skin of its teeth."
"At this time, our healthcare system in this country is
hanging on by the skin of its teeth," says one expert, referring to the
rapid increase in COVID hospitalizations. Dr Michael Osterholm, Director of the
University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy,
said on C-Washington SPAN's Journal yesterday. He warned that the pandemic was
far from ended and that worse variants could develop. "It's possible we'll
have to prepare for this again," he said. So, what's next, how can you stay
safe, and what makes you immune? Read on for five pieces of important advice.
1. Virus Expert Said Don't Count on Your Healthy Lifestyle or a
Previous Infection to Protect You From COVID
A caller stated that he was a healthy man who ate well and exercised
often and asked if this, combined with his COVID infection from the prior year,
would keep him safe. Osterholm complimented him for his intelligent choices but
warned that "Allow me to be crystal clear. Over time, the immunity you get
from a previous infection wears off. We've seen a lot of people who have been
re-infected with second episodes, which are often far more severe than the
first. So, at this time, I would strongly advise you to be vaccinated. You may
have gotten lucky and avoided re - infection up to this point, and your
lifestyle will not change that. When it infects you, this virus doesn't care if
you're healthy or not. What this means is that if you're healthier, you'll have
a higher chance of avoiding a serious illness than if you're not, but I'd urge
you—and anyone else who hasn't been vaccinated, even if they've had past
COVID—to get vaccinated right now."
2. Virus Expert Said: Prepare for More Dangerous Variants
When it comes to a more significant number of mutations, "We
have no real expectations. From the beginning, this virus has been throwing 210
kph curve balls at us "Dr Osterholm stated. "And we don't know
whether the next variant will be mild or positive news, but it might just as
easily be the opposite. And I believe we've had to learn our lessons again and
over again; we can hope for a mild variant, but hoping isn't a strategy. We
must accept that more severe variants may occur, and we must be prepared for
them. Otherwise, as a world, not only as a country, but as a planet, we shall
be caught by surprise once more."
3. Virus Expert Said COVID is Causing People to Postpone Treatment
of Other Medical Issues, and This Must Change
"To date, there hasn't been a clear definition of what
constitutes COVID success. Many people believed, at least last spring and early
summer, that once the vaccines were put out, and we had that big January peak
last year, the case number would start to decrease precipitously in late
January and early February. And I believe they thought it was finished. It was
going to disappear. On the TV screens, there were a lot of talking heads
informing you that we now know that's not the case, that it's not going away.
So, one of the things I believe we need to consider is, "Well, then, what
is the metric we use to decide whether we're successful or not?" Are
healthcare systems collapsing, when it was by default? Are we compromising
care, as we have in the cases of heart attacks, strokes, and automobile
accidents? Even patients with chronic or acute illnesses, such as cancer, have
had to postpone essential surgeries and diagnostic testing due to COVID."
Osterholm proposes, "We must understand the situation, adapt a system, and
support a system that can handle these potential surges. What's more, what
happens when you have a bad flu year, with 50 to 70,000 people dying from
influenza during a severe winter season, and COVID at the same time? So we
looked at what capacity we'd need to respond and plan accordingly. I believe
that most people are unaware that we do it in other parts of our lives right
now."
4. Virus Expert Said This is Why Hospitals are Filling Up
"Trying to describe this disease as milder, I believe, is a
misnomer," Dr Osterholm added. "It doesn't really do credit to what's
happened. What this means is that if—take let's the last possibility we
debated: Delta. Let me simply state that out of a thousand Delta cases, there
may be a hundred that are really unwell and require hospitalization. In many
circumstances, there is a risk of death. And then there's Omicron. You have a
thousand cases this time, but only ten are likely to become seriously ill and
die. You might think, "Wow, that's a huge benefit." The trouble is
that the virus has grown tenfold, far beyond what you witnessed with Delta. As
a result, the total number of persons coming to our healthcare system with
severe disease is higher than in the past. Even when it comes to the other
options. That's why the number of hospitalizations is at an all-time high.
Death rates are rising drastically in a lot of places across the country....
This is actually causing more serious illnesses and will result in more deaths
than we've seen in earlier variants."
5. How to Stay Safe Out There
Get vaccinated or boost your vaccinations as soon as possible; if you live in an area with low vaccination rates, wear an N95 face mask, avoid large crowds, don't go indoors with people you aren't sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene.