These numbers are extraordinarily shocking. To have more than 8,000 hospital beds taken up by Covid patients is a scary thought for healthcare professionals. Of all the things about Covid that scare me, the hospitalizations scare me most.
Why am I afraid of hospitalizations? Because of what I have observed a covid admission in the hospital to look like--long and drawn out admissions that often end in lonesome suffering and loss. The average length of stay in hospitals across the United States is 4.5 days. But the average length of stay for Covid-19 patients is orders of magnitude greater, with some populations experiencing 16-day averages.
This creates and astronomical pressure on the healthcare system. Think of the 405 when it was Friday rush our traffic, and that's the image of the hospitals one should conjure up. Patients get admitted, and they take forever to get discharged. Therefore, they start consuming beds.
With more and more beds dedicated to Covid-19 patients, what happens to all the other acute cases? All those other problems continue to exist--heart attack, stroke, appendicitis, etc! You name it, and healthcare providers are still dealing with those problems, except now, we have an additional Elephant in the room.
Stay home, stay safe, stay health.
