Fogbow

Hospitals across Western Pennsylvania are operating at or near capacity, a situation mirrored across the state and country as covid-19 cases spike — particularly among people who are unvaccinated.

All UPMC facilities — including those in New York and Maryland — are operating at or over capacity, said Susan Manko, a spokeswoman, though she stressed that all locations are open and care is available.

Manko said UPMC is treating around 840 covid patients across all facilities — the inpatient numbers peaked at 1,250 in December 2020.

She said 75% of covid inpatients at UPMC hospitals are not vaccinated and the 25% who are “are either immunocompromised or elderly.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday struck down the school mask mandate imposed by the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, affirming a lower court ruling that said state health officials lacked the authority to set the requirement.

In an order, the high court said it had vacated an order that allowed the mask mandate to remain in place while the Wolf administration appealed the Commonwealth Court ruling. It did not immediately issue an opinion, but promised one would be coming.

During oral arguments Wednesday, some justices seemed skeptical of the administration’s position that masking was a form of “modified quarantine” permitted under existing state law and regulations.

The plaintiffs who brought the case, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R., Centre) and other parents, had argued that Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam erred in not following a formal process to create a new regulation when she imposed the masking requirement this fall.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 5:08 pm And now this:

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pa-school ... 11210.html

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday struck down the school mask mandate imposed by the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, affirming a lower court ruling that said state health officials lacked the authority to set the requirement.

In an order, the high court said it had vacated an order that allowed the mask mandate to remain in place while the Wolf administration appealed the Commonwealth Court ruling. It did not immediately issue an opinion, but promised one would be coming.

It's like too many people have a death wish - for others.



The next wave has arrived.

The numbers are creeping up in Hawaii. Most days the new case numbers are low, but then some days each week the figures double or triple. It doesn't seem like much looking at the rates on this day or that day, but there are spikes. Looking at the weekly rate, you can see the increase. The next wave is building up here too.

Also, now many people who have covid or have been exposed to covid are refusing to tell DOH with whom they have had contact. <insert emoji tearing out hair>

In total, the state's 17 hospital systems offer 21,444 operational beds, including 3,241 beds in intensive care units (ICU).
Source, but note that nubmer is from March 2020 and may be significantly more or less.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Sun Dec 12, 2021 8:35 pm Well, we know where to look for the next big surge. Stupid.

Douglas County Health Department alarmed at ICU capacity; 10 adult ICU beds open in metro area
As of Friday, the Omaha Metropolitan Healthcare Coalition reported 97% occupancy of adult ICU beds

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — As of Friday, ICU beds within the Omaha Metropolitan Health Care Coalition were 97% full with 10 staffed beds available. These numbers include patients in the ICU for COVID-19 as well as patients with other conditions. Pediatric ICUs were at 92% occupancy with 10 beds available.

The local health department of a rural southern Missouri county is halting its COVID-19 response efforts after Attorney General Eric Schmitt wrote agencies this week demanding they drop mitigation measures. The Laclede County Health Department, which serves a 35,000-person county northeast of Springfield, made the announcement in a Facebook post Thursday morning that it was suspending “all COVID-19 related work.” It will no longer investigate COVID cases, contact-trace, issue directives for exposed residents to quarantine themselves or make public announcements of case numbers and deaths. The department pointed residents to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their personal doctors for directions on what to do about a COVID diagnosis. Cases have been on the uptick in Laclede County since mid-November, according to the state health department. Just 35% of the population is fully vaccinated, compared with 52% of the state. One person there has died from COVID in the past week. State figures show the county has Missouri’s sixth-highest COVID death rate.

Lani wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:54 am This health department stops ‘all COVID-19 related work’ after Missouri AG threat
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politic ... rylink=cpy

The local health department of a rural southern Missouri county is halting its COVID-19 response efforts after Attorney General Eric Schmitt wrote agencies this week demanding they drop mitigation measures. The Laclede County Health Department, which serves a 35,000-person county northeast of Springfield, made the announcement in a Facebook post Thursday morning that it was suspending “all COVID-19 related work.” It will no longer investigate COVID cases, contact-trace, issue directives for exposed residents to quarantine themselves or make public announcements of case numbers and deaths. The department pointed residents to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their personal doctors for directions on what to do about a COVID diagnosis. Cases have been on the uptick in Laclede County since mid-November, according to the state health department. Just 35% of the population is fully vaccinated, compared with 52% of the state. One person there has died from COVID in the past week. State figures show the county has Missouri’s sixth-highest COVID death rate.

More disgusting actions at the link.

filly wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:09 pm Idk if their target audience is reading newspapers, but it's a good ad.

raison de arizona wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:16 pm

filly wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:09 pm Idk if their target audience is reading newspapers, but it's a good ad.

True, they should be advertising on FoxNews, Newsmax, etc. Not that I think it will do any good. The unvaxxed just don't give a fig about anyone but themselves at this point, clearly.

filly wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:19 pm

raison de arizona wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:16 pm

filly wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:09 pm Idk if their target audience is reading newspapers, but it's a good ad.

True, they should be advertising on FoxNews, Newsmax, etc. Not that I think it will do any good. The unvaxxed just don't give a fig about anyone but themselves at this point, clearly.

If they cared about themselves they'd be vaccinated! It's kind of a life and death decision for a lot of those folks. Angry old fat white men are COVID's favorite demographic.

California orders statewide mask requirement starting Wednesday

The evidence is there that masks still make a difference, Ghaly said. The coronavirus is airborne and can also spread silently from infected, asymptomatic people.

“Even a 10% increase in indoor masking can reduce case transmission significantly,” Ghaly said.

“This is a critical time where we have a tool that we know has worked and can work. We are proactively putting this tool of universal indoor masking in public settings in place to ensure we get through a time of joy and hope without a darker cloud of concern and despair,” Ghaly said. “Californians have done this before. And we of course believe we can do it again.”