Covid-19 in OKC (coronavirus)

[Roger S]

That became a wall of text didn’t it…

Quoting this so I don't have to quote the wall..... My fiance was telling me yesterday about all her experiences down in Idabel last week and one thing she told me they were doing to try and keep peoples oxygen up was using both the nose tubes and a mask (because they didn't have the equipment to intubate).... It pretty much sounded like they were just doing anything they could think of to try and keep these people alive.

She also said she was told that this is the first time in that hospitals history that every bed was full.

[soonerguru]

Quoting this so I don't have to quote the wall..... My fiance was telling me yesterday about all her experiences down in Idabel last week and one thing she told me they were doing to try and keep peoples oxygen up was using both the nose tubes and a mask (because they didn't have the equipment to intubate).... It pretty much sounded like they were just doing anything they could think of to try and keep these people alive.

She also said she was told that this is the first time in that hospitals history that every bed was full.

I had an unplanned visit to that hospital once, when I was on a cabin vacation to the Beavers Bend area with my wife. Unfortunately, I got a kidney stone that started moving the day we arrived.

After a rough night, we visited the hospital in Idabel and I remember at the time thinking how horrifying it would be if one were suffering a real medical emergency and that was the only hospital available to you.

Obviously I respect what your fiancé is doing there, and the hard work put in by the staff, but I was lucky the stone stopped moving and didn't require surgery. I was able to take a couple of painkillers and move on with my trip.

Has the hospital improved since then? We are talking May of 2005 when I was last in there.

Living in a city like OKC, with so many great doctors and hospitals, you forget how far away many people are from a top-quality hospital in the case of medical emergency.

[d-usa]

It’s also a wider issue with how hospitals are setup in Oklahoma (as well as many other states). Most of the high-acuity, more technical medical care is situated in Tulsa and OKC. Rural hospitals are usually not setup to handle those cases and are focused on triage and stabilizing these cases, then transferring them to the metro hospitals. They are basically just feeder hospitals to filter out the specialized cases that need to go to specialty and higher level of care treatment here, and they hand on to the basic med/surg patients and lower acuity cases.

That system works 95% of the time, except when there is no place to transfer anyone to.

[soonerguru]

It’s also a wider issue with how hospitals are setup in Oklahoma (as well as many other states). Most of the high-acuity, more technical medical care is situated in Tulsa and OKC. Rural hospitals are usually not setup to handle those cases and are focused on triage and stabilizing these cases, then transferring them to the metro hospitals. They are basically just feeder hospitals to filter out the specialized cases that need to go to specialty and higher level of care treatment here, and they hand on to the basic med/surg patients and lower acuity cases.

That system works 95% of the time, except when there is no place to transfer anyone to.

This puts incredible pressure on our OKC hospitals. Heck, even if people in OKC were 85% vaccinated, our hospitals would still be absolutely inundated by people from rural areas.

[Roger S]

Living in a city like OKC, with so many great doctors and hospitals, you forget how far away many people are from a top-quality hospital in the case of medical emergency.

Actually.... A lot of the medical personnel working in the rural hospitals are the same ones working in the hospitals here.... They work 7 on 7 off here and the 7 they are off they are working in the rural hospitals because they generally make more money at the rural hospitals..

The major difference is usually the facility.... Most rural hospitals are only able to do so much with what they have and then they are going to stabilize you and move you on to a better equipped facility..... Only right now there are no rooms left in the better equipped facilities.... here or out of state.

[soonerguru]

Actually.... A lot of the medical personnel working in the rural hospitals are the same ones working in the hospitals here.... They work 7 on 7 off here and the 7 they are off they are working in the rural hospitals because they generally make more money at the rural hospitals..

The major difference is usually the facility.... Most rural hospitals are only able to do so much with what they have and then they are going to stabilize you and move you on to a better equipped facility..... Only right now there are no rooms left in the better equipped facilities.... here or out of state.

Yes, I didn't mean to impugn the doctors or staff at all. The facilities are obviously the difference. And, when I mentioned doctors, i was talking about people who do things like heart transplants. You aren't going to find folks like that in rural hospitals.

[PhiAlpha]

I had an unplanned visit to that hospital once, when I was on a cabin vacation to the Beavers Bend area with my wife. Unfortunately, I got a kidney stone that started moving the day we arrived.

After a rough night, we visited the hospital in Idabel and I remember at the time thinking how horrifying it would be if one were suffering a real medical emergency and that was the only hospital available to you.

Obviously I respect what your fiancé is doing there, and the hard work put in by the staff, but I was lucky the stone stopped moving and didn't require surgery. I was able to take a couple of painkillers and move on with my trip.

Has the hospital improved since then? We are talking May of 2005 when I was last in there.

Living in a city like OKC, with so many great doctors and hospitals, you forget how far away many people are from a top-quality hospital in the case of medical emergency.

I can't speak for Idabel, but I have noticed in my travels between county seats and other small towns that the facilities themselves in many of them seem to have improved quite a bit over the last 10-15 years. Fortunately all of my experience has been limited to my view from the outside of those facilities and not the inside, but many appear to have had some money put into them.

[Roger S]

I can't speak for Idabel, but I have noticed in my travels between county seats and other small towns that the facilities themselves in many of them seem to have improved quite a bit over the last 10-15 years. Fortunately all of my experience has been limited to my view from the outside of those facilities and not the inside, but many appear to have had some money put into them.

I've not had to use the hospital in Ardmore but since Mercy bought it there have been quite a few improvements of the campus. They even have a cancer treatment center there.

[catcherinthewry]

7,827 cases the last three days along with 88 deaths reported. 2806 seven day average. It hasn't been that high since Jan. 19th.

[Pete]

7,827 new cases for the 3 day period. Last several Mondays: 6,218; 6,967, 6,328; 5,597; 3,669; 2,216; 1,211.

7-day average still climbing at 2,806.

Hospitalizations are 1,572 (-30).

ICU is 422 (-1).

[PoliSciGuy]

Sigh. So much for the plateau.

[Jersey Boss]

Sigh. So much for the plateau.

I guess that Rt calculation of a plateau was not valid

[PoliSciGuy]

I'm thinking this uptick is mainly school related, so a new variable throws off the model.

If there is any sort of silver lining in this, it's that if this is indeed driven by schools, then maybe our hospitalization rate goes down as kids aren't hospitalized at nearly the same rate as adults with this. It's an awful silver lining though, as kids like my two boys are now at their most vulnerable and no vaccine for younger folks in sight.

[Pete]

^

Kids still carry it to adults and more and more children have been going into the hospital and even dying.

This is all so completely predictable.

[Pete]

On the City Council agenda for tomorrow is a vote on a mask mandate.

They would need 7 of 9 positive votes and it seems very unlikely they'll get that.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...ge/5622055001/

[soonerguru]

Sigh. So much for the plateau.

What plateau? There hasn't been one. Probably just statistical reporting fallacies.

[soonerguru]

On the City Council agenda for tomorrow is a vote on a mask mandate.

They would need 7 of 9 positive votes and it seems very unlikely they'll get that.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...ge/5622055001/

Extremely disappointed in the white flag being waved by at least half of the council members. The virus is spreading more than it was even during the big wave last winter.

Covid is not over. Why are they acting like it is?

What utter disappointments Stonecipher, Greenwell and Stone are for ignoring science due to their spineless fears of the psychotic anti-maskers (who do not represent the majority view in OKC). You notice I didn't even mention Young or Carter because they are right-wing extremists and not even worth the mention.

[Plutonic Panda]

What plateau? There hasn't been one. Probably just statistical reporting fallacies.

I believe he was referring to a poster that said cases would start to go down about a week ago and that hasn’t been the case.

[Bunty]

I can't speak for Idabel, but I have noticed in my travels between county seats and other small towns that the facilities themselves in many of them seem to have improved quite a bit over the last 10-15 years. Fortunately all of my experience has been limited to my view from the outside of those facilities and not the inside, but many appear to have had some money put into them.

For instance, Stillwater Regional Hospital recently built a 53 acre medical south campus. It's adding a 3 story addition to the actual hospital. But like so many hospitals, it full and could hold more but needs more nurses to serve more covid patients.

[Pete]

1,719 new cases today; last several Tuesdays: 1,794; 862; 1,136; 946; 733; 465.

7-day average down slightly to 2,796.

Compared to the same period last week, +1,534 new cases.

Hospitalizations are 1,539 (-33).

ICU is 434 (+12).

[Canoe]

How is your sister doing Pete?

[Pete]

How is your sister doing pete?

She's still in ICU on the ventilator.

Trying to stay hopeful but she's very sick.

[Canoe]

She's still in ICU on the ventilator.

Trying to stay hopeful but she's very sick.

I am sorry to here this news.

[Pete]

City council votes down the mask mandate 4 votes to 5; they needed 7 to pass.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...id/5655867001/

[Pete]

The City Council meeting turned into an embarrassing circus.

Carol and Robert Hefner (who are anti-vaccine and said they used ivermectin to treat their Covid) and a group they organized shouted down the discussion about the mask ordinance to the point where police officers had to get involved.

I simply can't believe the divide in this city/state/country.