Don't Panic, Get Proactive for the Sake of Our Elderly and Our Disabled and Chronically Ill
Coronavirus victims in Italy will be denied access to intensive care if they are aged 80 or more or in poor health should pressure on beds i
Here is the part that horrifies me most: "The criteria for access to intensive therapy in cases of emergency must include age of less than 80 or a score on the Charlson comorbidity Index [which indicates how many other medical conditions the patient has] of less than 5."
That's horrible, but when you dig deeper it's worse than it looks. According to Wikipedia's page on comorbidity the Charlson index works like this: "The Charlson comorbidity index predicts the one-year mortality for a patient who may have a range of comorbid conditions, such as heart disease, AIDS, or cancer (a total of 22 conditions). Each condition is assigned a score of 1, 2, 3, or 6, depending on the risk of dying associated with each one. Scores are summed to provide a total score to predict mortality."
AIDS is an automatic 6. All people in Italy with AIDS have been abandoned by their healthcare system. The only other automatic 6s are metastasis and malignant tumors. So people with serious cancer. So everyone 80+ or with cancer, or with AIDS, or any combination thereof. They've been given up on. I'll leave the implications of that up to you all to think on.
Bottom line:
DON'T PANIC.
Wash your hands.
Stay home when possible.
Practice social distancing.
Follow quarantine rules.
Listen to the CDC.
Let's not let the United States get to this point. Let's do our best to take control of this situation and battle coronavirus back. Let's flatten the curve that's all over the news.
You may not be in danger but I know people who rate 5 or higher on that scale. Hell, I am represented on that scale. You know people on that scale. You probably even know someone who could be a 5.
Let's take care of our sick and grandparents by being good and following the rules. Let's take care of our friends and community members with AIDS. Let's take care of friends and relatives with cancer. If you take an in-depth look at that scale, you'll see that there are many ways to get to a score of 5 or higher. Let's take care of ourselves so all of these people we know and love are safe.
Don't panic, but take this seriously.
If you believe in any God or gods, pray for Italy and the people there who will not be receiving necessary treatment. If you don't, send good vibes. Let people know what is happening there. Maybe more people will take this pandemic seriously then.
I hope all of those people will make it out alive and whole. Let's try to make sure all of our people make it out too. We can't control what other countries do, but we can control what ours does.
How about we decide that this isn't on the table.
How about we make it known to our family, friends, and coworkers that we have decided that this country won't be pushed to the brink and forced to make this kind of decision.
Let's fight through the panic and make sure this never happens here or anywhere else.