A PSA on what "Plateau'ing" really means for us. (TLDR: things may seem calmer this week in the ER, but #dontfuckitup and #keepstayingthefuckhome) That things are "better" is a relative statement: You put sugar on poop, it's still poop -- Forgive me if I've developed some trust issues nowadays when people claim any "future projections." 1) "Plateau'ing" means if 100 new patients came in yesterday, another 100 patients comes in today (instead of 100 on day one, 120 on day two, 140 on day three, etc,). Think about that among ERs that were originally built to safely fit 30-40 patients at a time, and that having up to 100 patients a day consecutively could still mean patients can no longer fit inside an ER and go into cardiac arrest in the waiting rooms (which I actually had last weekend) 2) It takes about 7-12 days -- and sometimes up to 20 days -- for a COVID-19 patient (who was sick enough to be admitted to the hospital) to eventually recover. That means hospitals can keep getting fuller and fuller, even with a "plateau" of X patients coming to the ER everyday (of which an even higher than average % will still be admitted to the hospital due to COVID-19 being unusually associated with complications/sequelae such as embolic strokes and viral myocarditis) 3) What we need is a dip -- not a plateau -- that lasts long enough will allow us enough time to discharge enough patients (aka DECOMPRESS) from the ER and hospital, and accommodate the next wave of patients that come when we all break quarantine (whether it's because we have a false sense of confidence, when the weather gets better, etc.). Otherwise next month patients are not only going to die in the waiting room, but also on the street! 4) In other words, a cup pouring out at a steady plateau/rate will eventually run out of liquid, unless we slow the pour (aka a dip of patients coming to the ER) or we add to the cup (aka building new giant hospitals overnight, which still seems unlikely to happen). 5) "You can't pour from an empty cup." 6) #5 This applies to our mental health too -- I worry this is just the beginning: (This post continued below in my comments ⬇️👇🏼) (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-4JPNcHD2s/?igshid=rearcm7lewj