Suppression of Free Speech on Covid

[SkepticThinker]

Among other things. I mean, I would rather stay home than come up to the hospital.

What "other things?"

So to be clear, you're saying here that hospitals in NE Texas weren't overrun with COVID patients at all, and they sent all their staff home for no particular reason?

 

[Kathryn]

What "other things?"

So to be clear, you're saying here that hospitals in NE Texas weren't overrun with COVID patients at all, and they sent all their staff home for no particular reason?

What I am saying is all I am saying.

 

[metis]

Here in the Detroit area, we got hit very hard and early on as we were the 3rd hardest hit metropolitan area in the U.S. in 2020. This is in large part why most of us got vaxed as soon as they were available.

Our three "kids" and a local pharmacist called and called to try and get us poked, and it was the latter who made a connection for just one person. We went to a somewhat distant Walgreens so my wife could get the shot, but they gave me mine anyway even without an appointment.

 

[SkepticThinker]

What I am saying is all I am saying.

So to be clear, you're saying here that hospitals in NE Texas weren't overrun with COVID patients at all, and they sent all their staff home for no particular reason?

 

[metis]

I think many hospital workers were sent home with pay.

Not here. As a matter of fact, many were called upon to work overtime as so much had to be done. We were hit so hard it scared the poop out of us, and we responded en masse.

 

[Kathryn]

Not here. As a matter of fact, many were called upon to work overtime as so much had to be done. We were hit so hard it scared the poop out of us, and we responded en masse.

Oh that wasn't the case everywhere, thankfully. It wasn't the case where I was living in fact.

 

[Kathryn]

So to be clear, you're saying here that hospitals in NE Texas weren't overrun with COVID patients at all, and they sent all their staff home for no particular reason?

I don't know why they sent the staff home but all I do know is that in order to staff the orthopedic wing, they had to call people back into work for just me, and it wasn't very pretty. And no, the hospitals in Tyler TX were not overrun with patients from what I could tell. And they didn't even test me at all, for the record. In fact, I asked them specifically about it and they told me that they don't typically test patients and wouldn't be testing me for COVID. In fact, they didn't test any visitors either (I was there for five days so I had some visitors including one who stayed with me most of the time).

 

[SkepticThinker]

I don't know why they sent the staff home but all I do know is that in order to staff the orthopedic wing, they had to call people back into work for just me, and it wasn't very pretty. And no, the hospitals in Tyler TX were not overrun with patients from what I could tell. And they didn't even test me at all, for the record. In fact, I asked them specifically about it and they told me that they don't typically test patients and wouldn't be testing me for COVID. In fact, they didn't test any visitors either (I was there for five days so I had some visitors including one who stayed with me most of the time).

Perhaps those medical personnel were sent home because they had COVID? My sister is a nurse and she contracted COVID several times during the course of the pandemic, just by being in such close proximity to COVID patients all day long.

Sounds pretty anecdotal to me. There seems to be a lot of information missing here.
I think I'll stick with the stats.

Track Covid-19 in Tyler County, Texas

See the latest charts and maps of virus hospitalizations, cases, deaths, tests and vaccinations in Tyler County, Texas.

www.nytimes.com

East Texas hospital sees rise in COVID-19 cases during summer

Dr. Michael Lamenteer said if someone is dealing with nose drainage, body aches, chills and headaches, they should consider getting screened for COVID-19.

www.cbs19.tv

Tyler doctor says healthcare system is being overwhelmed

As Texas faces yet another surge in COVID-19 and a special legislative session continues, a local emergency room doctor is asking for the state’s financial help to address the dangerous

tylerpaper.com

COVID-19 is Surging in Rural Texas, Threatening to Overwhelm Local Hospitals

ICU beds are limited, medical providers are falling sick, and urban hospitals where small facilities transfer critical patients are running out of space.

www.texasobserver.org

 

[Kathryn]

Sounds pretty anecdotal to me. There seems to be a lot of information missing here.
I think I'll stick with the stats.

You do that. I'll stick with what I personally experienced and witnessed.

 

[SkepticThinker]

You do that. I'll stick with what I personally experienced and witnessed.

There are some pretty good reasons not to rely solely on personal experiences and "witnessing" ....

Track Covid-19 in Tyler County, Texas

See the latest charts and maps of virus hospitalizations, cases, deaths, tests and vaccinations in Tyler County, Texas.

www.nytimes.com

East Texas hospital sees rise in COVID-19 cases during summer

Dr. Michael Lamenteer said if someone is dealing with nose drainage, body aches, chills and headaches, they should consider getting screened for COVID-19.

www.cbs19.tv

Tyler doctor says healthcare system is being overwhelmed

As Texas faces yet another surge in COVID-19 and a special legislative session continues, a local emergency room doctor is asking for the state’s financial help to address the dangerous

tylerpaper.com

COVID-19 is Surging in Rural Texas, Threatening to Overwhelm Local Hospitals

ICU beds are limited, medical providers are falling sick, and urban hospitals where small facilities transfer critical patients are running out of space.

www.texasobserver.org

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I don't know why they sent the staff home but all I do know is that in order to staff the orthopedic wing, they had to call people back into work for just me, and it wasn't very pretty. And no, the hospitals in Tyler TX were not overrun with patients from what I could tell. And they didn't even test me at all, for the record. In fact, I asked them specifically about it and they told me that they don't typically test patients and wouldn't be testing me for COVID. In fact, they didn't test any visitors either (I was there for five days so I had some visitors including one who stayed with me most of the time).

Maybe you weren't aware of the problems that Tyler hospitals were facing:

Tyler doctor says healthcare system is being overwhelmed (source) ​

By Raquel Torres [email protected] Aug 12, 2021 Updated Sep 19, 2022​

[edited below]​

​

As Texas faces yet another surge in COVID-19 and a special legislative session continues, a local emergency room doctor is asking for the state’s financial help to address the dangerous staffing shortage affecting Texas hospital capacity.​

​

As a result, healthcare workers at Tyler Complete Care have been forced to hold patients for days before they can be sent to hospitals to get the proper medical attention they need that the emergency room doesn’t offer, for example, surgery for appendicitis.​

​

With stories like this happening statewide, Robertson said legislators should advocate for funding and resources for frontline workers as they’re experiencing staffing shortages at such an unexpected time.​

​

The staffing shortage is affecting hospital capacity across the state, putting anyone with an emergency at risk.​

​

Robertson said that with the unexpected, recent COVID-19 spike in cases, the general volumes of patients per day have greatly escalated.​

​

For example, if someone suffers a stroke and needs emergency care, Robertson said there have been times hospitals are turning ambulances away because they’re overwhelmed, he said.​

​

The number of patient volumes is overwhelming the system, along with an increase in how sick each patient is.​

​

As far as what the community can do to help frontline workers who may be experiencing overwhelming times, Robertson said get vaccinated for COVID-19.​

​

“The overwhelming majority of hospitalized patients with COVID are unvaccinated, so if we can get the vaccination rate up, we would lower the hospitalization rate and that would free up resources that’s stopping the care of other medical needs besides COVID,” Robertson said.​

​

“Hospitals across Texas, and in much of the country, are continuing to see sharp increases in COVID-19 and non-COVID patients, which is putting extreme pressure on all providers,” a UT Health East Texas statement read. “Additionally, a national shortage of nurses has resulted in fewer staffed beds across the country and has therefore made it more difficult to place patients in higher tertiary level care facilities.”​

 

[SkepticThinker]

Maybe you weren't aware of all of the problems that Tyler hospitals were facing

Tyler doctor says healthcare system is being overwhelmed (source) ​

By Raquel Torres [email protected] Aug 12, 2021 Updated Sep 19, 2022​

[edited below]​

​

As Texas faces yet another surge in COVID-19 and a special legislative session continues, a local emergency room doctor is asking for the state’s financial help to address the dangerous staffing shortage affecting Texas hospital capacity.​

​

As a result, healthcare workers at Tyler Complete Care have been forced to hold patients for days before they can be sent to hospitals to get the proper medical attention they need that the emergency room doesn’t offer, for example, surgery for appendicitis.​

​

With stories like this happening statewide, Robertson said legislators should advocate for funding and resources for frontline workers as they’re experiencing staffing shortages at such an unexpected time.​

​

The staffing shortage is affecting hospital capacity across the state, putting anyone with an emergency at risk.​

​

Robertson said that with the unexpected, recent COVID-19 spike in cases, the general volumes of patients per day have greatly escalated.​

​

For example, if someone suffers a stroke and needs emergency care, Robertson said there have been times hospitals are turning ambulances away because they’re overwhelmed, he said.​

​

The number of patient volumes is overwhelming the system, along with an increase in how sick each patient is.​

​

As far as what the community can do to help frontline workers who may be experiencing overwhelming times, Robertson said get vaccinated for COVID-19.​

​

“The overwhelming majority of hospitalized patients with COVID are unvaccinated, so if we can get the vaccination rate up, we would lower the hospitalization rate and that would free up resources that’s stopping the care of other medical needs besides COVID,” Robertson said.​

​

“Hospitals across Texas, and in much of the country, are continuing to see sharp increases in COVID-19 and non-COVID patients, which is putting extreme pressure on all providers,” a UT Health East Texas statement read. “Additionally, a national shortage of nurses has resulted in fewer staffed beds across the country and has therefore made it more difficult to place patients in higher tertiary level care facilities.”​

This is what I've been saying!

 

[Kathryn]

Maybe you weren't aware of all of the problems that Tyler hospitals were facing

Tyler doctor says healthcare system is being overwhelmed (source) ​

By Raquel Torres [email protected] Aug 12, 2021 Updated Sep 19, 2022​

[edited below]​

​

As Texas faces yet another surge in COVID-19 and a special legislative session continues, a local emergency room doctor is asking for the state’s financial help to address the dangerous staffing shortage affecting Texas hospital capacity.​

​

As a result, healthcare workers at Tyler Complete Care have been forced to hold patients for days before they can be sent to hospitals to get the proper medical attention they need that the emergency room doesn’t offer, for example, surgery for appendicitis.​

​

With stories like this happening statewide, Robertson said legislators should advocate for funding and resources for frontline workers as they’re experiencing staffing shortages at such an unexpected time.​

​

The staffing shortage is affecting hospital capacity across the state, putting anyone with an emergency at risk.​

​

Robertson said that with the unexpected, recent COVID-19 spike in cases, the general volumes of patients per day have greatly escalated.​

​

For example, if someone suffers a stroke and needs emergency care, Robertson said there have been times hospitals are turning ambulances away because they’re overwhelmed, he said.​

​

The number of patient volumes is overwhelming the system, along with an increase in how sick each patient is.​

​

As far as what the community can do to help frontline workers who may be experiencing overwhelming times, Robertson said get vaccinated for COVID-19.​

​

“The overwhelming majority of hospitalized patients with COVID are unvaccinated, so if we can get the vaccination rate up, we would lower the hospitalization rate and that would free up resources that’s stopping the care of other medical needs besides COVID,” Robertson said.​

​

“Hospitals across Texas, and in much of the country, are continuing to see sharp increases in COVID-19 and non-COVID patients, which is putting extreme pressure on all providers,” a UT Health East Texas statement read. “Additionally, a national shortage of nurses has resulted in fewer staffed beds across the country and has therefore made it more difficult to place patients in higher tertiary level care facilities.”​

Tyler Complete Care is a small fish in the Tyler market. And that was exactly the week I went into the hospital! Well, I went into the hospital I think September 14th, 2020. Note that the article was updated September 19, 2022.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Tyler Complete Care is a small fish in the Tyler market. And that was exactly the week I went into the hospital! Well, I went into the hospital I think September 14th, 2020. Note that the article was updated September 19, 2022.

Now you know what the problem was.

 

[Kathryn]

There are some pretty good reasons not to rely solely on personal experiences and "witnessing" ....

Track Covid-19 in Tyler County, Texas

See the latest charts and maps of virus hospitalizations, cases, deaths, tests and vaccinations in Tyler County, Texas.

www.nytimes.com

East Texas hospital sees rise in COVID-19 cases during summer

Dr. Michael Lamenteer said if someone is dealing with nose drainage, body aches, chills and headaches, they should consider getting screened for COVID-19.

www.cbs19.tv

Tyler doctor says healthcare system is being overwhelmed

As Texas faces yet another surge in COVID-19 and a special legislative session continues, a local emergency room doctor is asking for the state’s financial help to address the dangerous

tylerpaper.com

COVID-19 is Surging in Rural Texas, Threatening to Overwhelm Local Hospitals

ICU beds are limited, medical providers are falling sick, and urban hospitals where small facilities transfer critical patients are running out of space.

www.texasobserver.org

I wasn't in Tyler county, I was in Smith County. It's a common mistake.

 

[Kathryn]

Now you know what the problem was.

Not really. Look, in my neighborhood were many medical workers including at least one doctor. They were all sent home, with pay, and no, it wasn't because they had COVID or anything like that, it was because they didn't work in an essential part of the hospital. Orthopedics was not considered an essential part of the hospital. Knee and shoulder and elbow replacements were generally considered to be elective surgeries. So in order to staff the wing of the hospital I was in, they had to call in nurses, surgeons, everyone basically. These people were getting money to stay home and they didn't want to come back in, and I don't blame them to be completely honest.

The hospital was nearly deserted. The good thing was that it was super easy to get parking though.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Tyler Complete Care is a small fish in the Tyler market.

If you read the article, you'll see that the problem was area wide. That small fish had nowhere to transfer patients. The local surrounding hospitals were overwhelmed and unable to accept ambulance transports in a timely manner.

If things around you were benign as you suggest, how do you account for that doctor's plea for help if not an overwhelming effect of the pandemic on his ER ?

I wasn't in Tyler county, I was in Smith County. It's a common mistake.

The article I cited was from the city of Tyler, TX in Smith County.

that was exactly the week I went into the hospital! Well, I went into the hospital I think September 14th, 2020

The article was from August 2021.

in my neighborhood were many medical workers including at least one doctor. They were all sent home, with pay, and no, it wasn't because they had COVID or anything like that, it was because they didn't work in an essential part of the hospital. Orthopedics was not considered an essential part of the hospital.

It's hard to evaluate your account given the relative lack of information you provide, but given when it happened (I'm assuming September 2020 date above was correct when you wrote that), it was almost certainly Covid related. Are you aware of any hospitals sending their orthopedic staffs home before 2020 or after 2021? Probably not.

So now here's a second fact for you to reconcile with your report that your area was relatively unaffected: Why was the ortho crew at your hospital sent home? My guess is that as much of the ortho crew as could be repurposed were working elsewhere in the hospital and only those too specialized to help in an ER, ICU, or general medical ward were sent home.

Whatever the details, your experience was almost certainly made more difficult due to an overwhelming Covid problem and that the problems around you were more severe than you knew.

 

[SkepticThinker]

If you read the article, you'll see that the problem was area wide. That small fish had nowhere to transfer patients. The local surrounding hospitals were overwhelmed and unable to accept ambulance transports in a timely manner.

That's what I was trying to draw her attention to. Thanks for doing a better job than I did.

If things around you were benign as you suggest, how do you account for that doctor's plea for help if not an overwhelming effect of the pandemic on his ER ?

The article I cited was from the city of Tyler, TX in Smith County.

The article was from August 2021.

It's hard to evaluate your account given the relative lack of information you provide, but given when it happened (I'm assuming September 2020 date above was correct when you wrote that), it was almost certainly Covid related. Are you aware of any hospitals sending their orthopedic staffs home before 2020 or after 2021? Probably not.

So now here's a second fact for you to reconcile with your report that your area was relatively unaffected: Why was the ortho crew at your hospital sent home? My guess is that as much of the ortho crew as could be repurposed were working elsewhere in the hospital and only those too specialized to help in an ER, ICU, or general medical ward were sent home.

This! My sister usually works in forensics, but throughout the pandemic she was continually re-assigned to the ER and ICU. Which meant that forensics, which was was already short-staffed to begin with, was even more short-staffed. And on top of that, she contracted COVID several times from the patients she was treating and had to take 10 days at a time off from work while in quarantine.

Whatever the details, your experience was almost certainly made more difficult due to an overwhelming Covid problem and that the problems around you were more severe than you knew.

Yup.

 

[Kathryn]

If you read the article, you'll see that the problem was area wide. That small fish had nowhere to transfer patients. The local surrounding hospitals were overwhelmed and unable to accept ambulance transports in a timely manner.

If things around you were benign as you suggest, how do you account for that doctor's plea for help if not an overwhelming effect of the pandemic on his ER ?

The article I cited was from the city of Tyler, TX in Smith County.

The article was from August 2021.

It's hard to evaluate your account given the relative lack of information you provide, but given when it happened (I'm assuming September 2020 date above was correct when you wrote that), it was almost certainly Covid related. Are you aware of any hospitals sending their orthopedic staffs home before 2020 or after 2021? Probably not.

So now here's a second fact for you to reconcile with your report that your area was relatively unaffected: Why was the ortho crew at your hospital sent home? My guess is that as much of the ortho crew as could be repurposed were working elsewhere in the hospital and only those too specialized to help in an ER, ICU, or general medical ward were sent home.

Whatever the details, your experience was almost certainly made more difficult due to an overwhelming Covid problem and that the problems around you were more severe than you knew.

I believe you listed three articles and only one was from Smith County, TX. But I am uniniterested enough not to go back and double check that.

So one of the articles was from August 2021 - nearly a year after September 2020 which is when I broke my elbow. A lot can happen in a year, as we all know. And nope, sorry but the nurses I know were sent home because well, because they were sent home, not because they had COVID or were repurposed elsewhere where needed. Sorry.

But yes, I would definitely say that COVID impacted my hospital stay negatively.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I believe you listed three articles and only one was from Smith County, TX.

You're incorrect.

I am uninterested

I know.

I would definitely say that COVID impacted my hospital stay negatively.

That's new. Previously, you were implying that your region was largely unaffected.

the nurses I know were sent home because well, because they were sent home

Good answer.

not because they had COVID

I never claimed otherwise.

or were repurposed elsewhere where needed.

Those wouldn't be the nurses sent home if indeed there were any. I can't take your claims at face value. As you say, you are uninterested, and don't pay attention to detail, such as how many articles I linked to, when that article was written, or the fact that your region was severely affected by the pandemic and that you seemed to be unaware of it until now. Those kinds of errors in rapid succession undermine your credibility regarding what you think happened in your community and why.