In a sick twist of capitalism, this sharp decrease in patient volumes through the emergency department and occupying hospital beds, while non-emergency operations were put on hold, lead to decreased revenue for hospitals and physician groups.

With a lack of revenue and a lack of foresight for the possibility of further surges and the arcane and length process of applying for hospital credentials, that lead to hospitals cutting staff including nurses and physician groups cutting hours and pay or even firing physicians.

COVID Isn’t Over, And Why That Will Impact Everyone — https://tnicholsmd.medium.com/covid-isnt-over-and-why-that-will-impact-everyone-ce94766669df

We have staffing shortages in our hospitals that include not just physicians but nurses, respiratory specialists, etc. Dr. Nichols calls this “a sick twist of capitalism”. I disagree. It’s just capitalism. Capitalism worked well for several hundred years, but times change, and systems eventually become corrupt. Corrupt systems then attract corrupt individuals or gradually corrupt unsuspecting souls to perpetuate the system. Welcome to to the world of Predatory Capitalism. Eat or be eaten. Capitalism lacks compassion.

Whew. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest back to our original programming.

Be virus aware even if you are vaccinated. You might consider masking up again while indoors, amongst crowds, etc. The situation is worse in different parts of the world. Be aware of the situation where you live and where you travel. I was in a local shopping mall for the first time since some time prior to March 2020. A small minority of us were wearing masks. The vast majority of shoppers were behaving as if the pandemic was over. It ain’t over.

I did notice that masks were on sale. You might want to pick up a few before the price goes back up.

But so many people remain unvaccinated that, nationwide, cases have more than doubled in recent weeks — a jump driven not just by Delta, but also the country’s lapsing of mitigation efforts and people traveling and reconnecting socially. Even states like Massachusetts that have comparatively high vaccination rates have started seeing upticks in cases.

How Delta is pushing the U.S. into a new phase of the Covid-19 pandemic — https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/19/delta-vaccines-new-phase-pandemic/?utm_campaign=rss