Originally Posted by
Hal Incandenza
valid point, definitely. but there's the problem that medical practitioners get COVID too and are sometimes out for long stretches of time. there's only so many retirees in the medical field, volunteers who have a basic medical knowledge, med students, Red cross workers, army meds etc. that you can substitute those with
while you can always create more space, more beds, buy more medical supplies (which they still might have not done in the right amounts, which is part of your argument I think) you can't create aptly medically trained 'manpower' within 9 to 10 months in large numbers
also, and we have to be honest here, people who work in homes for the elderly only get very basic medical training (at least down here). they are not even officially called nurses but 'caregivers' - so those who own those homes can pay them less. down here it took ages for those caregivers to grasp what COVID was (in general : how viruses can behave), what protection was necessary and especially how NOT to infect patients when doing their rounds. the anecdotes are plenty. caretakers stuffing their one time use only facemasks in their pockets, taking it home, using it again the next day, using the same equipment from patient to patient without disinfecting items. really basic stuff, things everybody on wucorp knows about just because, but they don't because - again, let's be real here - some of them are REALLY on the slow side and took caregiver classes as the highest possible degree for them.
I don't want to sound like a cunt (I do) but I taught caregivers age 16 and onward, trust me, you don't feel safe knowing these are the kind of people that will take care of you in your old age
just one anecdote, there was a volunteer down here with basic medical training who decided to surprise the elderly at the home where his father also resided by turning up in (the local version of) a Santaclaus suit, taking pictures with them, standing right next to them etc. caregivers assisted him without asking any questions. this happened early December. it turns out he was infected with COVID but asymptomatic and had not taken a test before going to the home for the elderly. by now 27 residents have died (tests have shown they carry the same strain as the volunteer) and very large numbers have been infected. he has received death threats and the home for the elderly is being taken to court
anyway, you've got a whole bunch of people that needed urgent medical training first (and they received it on the go during the first wave and afterwards) and those who taught them could not be used elsewhere to train others, or to a lesser extent
what this health crisis shows is that, probably, in some countries more (tax) money should be spent in the medical field BUT MAKE THAT MONEY COUNT don't squander it where it isn't needed
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