Oh, hell. I was going to write this morning about red-baiters going all Red Queen. But then the first tweet I saw this morning was from Russel L. Honore’ from 4:21 AM. His message is more important.
“But the truth is that we are at the limit. … The people who draw blood. The people who work night shifts. The people who sit in rooms with patients who are delirious. They’re tired. We’re all tired,” Craig Daniels, a critical care physician at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic tells the Washington Post.
The report continues:
“Frankly, between postponing elective surgeries, delaying surgeries, transferring patients, EMS bypass, and now the National Guard coming in … it’s going to be approaching a breaking point if we don’t turn the tide on these hospitalizations very soon,” said John Palmer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Hospital Association.
“Our absences are through the roof,” said Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University in Rhode Island.
The nurse’s reminder Tuesday that hospitals are near or at capacity in many places as the Omicron surge rolls across the country has stayed with me ever since. So, when a plumbing emergency sent us out to a couple of home improvement stores on Thursday, I was ready with a retort should some belligerent get in my face about wearing a mask. I’m doing it for his family:
Why am I vaccinated?
Why am I wearing a mask?
So when you or someone you love has a heart attack or a stroke or a car accident, or when your kid gets pneumonia, there will be a hospital bed for them because I won’t be in it.
The situation never arose, but there it is in case you need it.
If you still want to read about the antidemocratic hard-right’s efforts to drag the Republican party kicking and screaming into a dark, reactionary future, here’s the link.