Just retired after 40 years in healthcare. This is not the flu.

A local critical care doc posted last week that he lost 3 Covid patients over the last week. He had lost 2 to the flu in 12 years.

Not the same ball game.

Viral transmission is all about viral load. How much you pick up all at the same time. That is what mask, and social distancing is all about. Decreasing the amount you get at once.

The other thing that these measures are for is slowing the spread, so your local hospital/ healthcare system is not overwhelmed, so there is still room for you when you have a heart attack, stroke, break a bone, need surgery, or get Covid. Our healthcare systems currently work at very close to capacity for multiple reasons.

Most of us have never seen a truly overwhelmed hospital or health care system. I have in Haiti 10 weeks after the earthquake. Saw a little girl with a head wound that was getting septic and got her and her mom in touch with one of the nuns to get her in the ER. Found out later at supper that she had been turned away. I cried like a baby at supper, and it still haunts me. She just needed some IV antibiotics for a couple of days. I am quite sure she died. She was turned away because there were already 3 sick children on each of the ER stretches. There was just not capacity for all the need. And when you say, that is just poor Haiti, and cannot happen in this country, you are frankly wrong. It Can happen in this country too if this gets bad enough. That is what healthcare workers that have some understanding of the system and the potential for this disease fear.

To keep it in soaring terms:

Viral load is like the amount of bugs that build up on your wing. Minimal, probably no effect, lots can have a big impact.

If you get a bad case it is about as different as a benign spiral and a spiral dive.

Kevin Anderson R.N., B.S.N., C.R.N.A.
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