South African Covid-19 News and Discussions 2

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pouroverguy

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pinball wizard said:
Wait for the next two weeks.
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About a month ago, Groote Schuur already had more than double the usual amount of patients in the medical wards, and doctors from other disciplines like surgery were being pulled in to help. Currently the respiratory ICU has 3 x more patients than normal, according to 2 ICU nurses.
 
Geoff.D

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Paulsie said:
www.dailymaverick.co.za

MAVERICK CITIZEN: Zweli Mkhize: We are riding into a decimating and devastating storm

Warning South Africans to brace themselves as the country heads for the peak of coronavirus infections, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that the outcomes are still better than the initial predictions that 20% of those who are infected would need hospitalisation.
www.dailymaverick.co.za www.dailymaverick.co.za

Is he actually saying public health response has prevented higher number of deaths in the country?



With daily test numbers stabilized, only the % of positive tests will be an indicator as to how much more is this spreading. It went from 2-3% at the beginning to approx. 15% yesterday.


Is that a typo as 5, 401 is much higher than the total of all covid cases hospitalized??
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I would interpret what he said as 5401 ventilators "ready for use". These death machines are used to treat other patients as well not just for Covid 19.
 
Aquila ka Hecate

Aquila ka Hecate

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pouroverguy said:
About a month ago, Groote Schuur already had more than double the usual amount of patients in the medical wards, and doctors from other disciplines like surgery were being pulled in to help. Currently the respiratory ICU has 3 x more patients than normal, according to 2 ICU nurses.
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..and yet, private hospital numbers my end have fallen by more than 50% over the last 2 months.
 
Geoff.D

Geoff.D

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zoozi said:
God that story is just gut-wrenching, feel like kak after reading that.

I have a question. There must be many different methods of treatment going around depending on the hospital/doctor, with the science advancing all the time. I read about high-dose oxygen now being favoured over vents in WC; and of Dr Jaco Laubscher's promising treatment protocol.

Is it mostly at the hospital and doctor's discretion, or are the treatments more standardized in terms of a government protocol? Do government protocols have any bearing on private practices? Just makes me think how much a luck of the draw it might be when it comes to treatment.
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Unfortunately, I am of the opinion that hospitals (private and public) dictate to doctors to "follow protocols" rather than encouraging them to use their own skills at diagnosing and treating patients.
That is driven by the lawyers wanting to avoid litigation. That means if the protocols says: "Use the death machine" it will be used even when other options are available.

Private hospitals tend to optimise profits as well, which favours the use of ventilators rather than other methods.
In the case of public hospitals in SA, I am convinced very few are set up to make mass use of oxygen systems so, again, patients will end up being treated with what is available, which again leans towards these death machines.

WC had to do plenty of infrastructure changes to accommodate larger usage of oxygen, which is very unlikely to have happened everywhere else.

Similarly, the new drug protocol will tend to happen slowly.

So in the end, it is the luck of the draw, many dominos must fall into place before you can be sure that the best possible treatment options will be used to treat a covid 19 patient at some or other random hospital in SA.
 
Paulsie

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Messugga

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Geoff.D said:
I would interpret what he said as 5401 ventilators "ready for use". These death machines are used to treat other patients as well not just for Covid 19.
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Death machines which keep you alive during operations, but aren't intended for longterm use.
 
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