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RSV, Covid, and No Good Answers
Taking care of yourself
I live one block away from a small hospital. Yesterday, at 3 pm, there were 11 ambulances jockeying for space in the emergency admissions parking lot. This small, 250-bed hospital serves as an “ambulance diversion” for the main trauma hospital, a few miles away, that staffs 720 beds.
“The practice of turning away ambulances is known as “ambulance diversion” or “hospital diversion,” and it happens in many cities across the country. The typical scenario: A hospital is so jammed with patients that it can’t accommodate any more, so administrators decide to declare the ER essentially closed to new patients coming in via ambulance. Paramedics are directed to bypass the facility in favor of another one, and while they aren’t required to honor that request, they usually do.” https://www.health.com/mind-body/hospital-diversion
And, as I walked my dog around the neighborhood, I was surrounded by the wailing of sirens, as even more ambulances crowded the surrounding streets, blocking intersections. This has become a usual experience in my normally quiet neighborhood.
The Covid admissions slowed down over the summer, but colder weather, schools in session, and indoor activities are breeding grounds for all sorts of respiratory infections that are sending people to the ER.
