Speed of Covid-19 deaths shock doctors and nurses
NEW YORK: One medical worker called it “insane”, another said it induces paranoia - the speed with which patients are dying from the novel coronavirus is shocking even veteran doctors and nurses as they scramble to determine how to stop such sudden deterioration.
Patients “look fine, feel fine, then you turn around and they’re unresponsive”, said Diana Torres, a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US where the virus has infected nearly 430,000 people and caused more than 14,700 deaths.
“I’m paranoid, scared to walk out of their rooms.”
It isn’t just the elderly or patients with underlying health conditions, who can be fine one minute, and at death’s door the next.
It can happen for the young and healthy, too, health professionals told Reuters.
A young woman died unexpectedly while nurse Laurie Douglas was on duty at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
After 34 years on the job, Douglas said she normally has “an intuition of who is going to fade and who may improve”.
“But these people are throwing that out the window.
“Last week, she was planning her wedding.
“This week, her family is planning her funeral,“ she said, referring to the deceased patient.
Patients might enter the hospital with strong oxygen levels and be engaged in happy conversation, said a resident emergency doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, only to be “gasping for breath” and intubated a few hours later.
“The scary thing is there are no rules to it,“ the resident said on condition of anonymity.
These scenes are playing out everywhere as Covid-19 has infected more than 1.4 million worldwide and killed more than 85,000 as of Wednesday.
The quick turns for the worse are likely products of an “overly exuberant” reaction by the immune system as it fights the virus, said Dr Otto Yang, an infectious disease specialist at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles.
Called a cytokine storm, it occurs when the body overproduces immune cells and their activating compounds - cytokines - causing dangerously high blood pressure, lung damage and organ failure. [...]
Journalist Anick Jesdanun, who was in good health and had run 83 marathons, died last week from Covid-19, according to a post on Facebook by his cousin Prinda Mulpramook.
Jesdanun, who was 51, at first didn’t need hospitalisation, according to the post.
He had begun to recover and showed clear lungs and strong vital signs during a doctor’s visit in late March. But “a sudden setback” sent him to the emergency room on April 1, and “13 hours later we lost him”, Mulpramook wrote. [...]
Some of those hospitals are experimenting with unproven drugs in hopes of helping patients, including the anti-malaria medication hydroxychloroquine.
“We’re essentially throwing the kitchen sink at these patients,“ a doctor said.
Patients “look fine, feel fine, then you turn around and they’re unresponsive”, said Diana Torres, a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US where the virus has infected nearly 430,000 people and caused more than 14,700 deaths.
“I’m paranoid, scared to walk out of their rooms.”
It isn’t just the elderly or patients with underlying health conditions, who can be fine one minute, and at death’s door the next.
It can happen for the young and healthy, too, health professionals told Reuters.
A young woman died unexpectedly while nurse Laurie Douglas was on duty at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
After 34 years on the job, Douglas said she normally has “an intuition of who is going to fade and who may improve”.
“But these people are throwing that out the window.
“Last week, she was planning her wedding.
“This week, her family is planning her funeral,“ she said, referring to the deceased patient.
Patients might enter the hospital with strong oxygen levels and be engaged in happy conversation, said a resident emergency doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, only to be “gasping for breath” and intubated a few hours later.
“The scary thing is there are no rules to it,“ the resident said on condition of anonymity.
These scenes are playing out everywhere as Covid-19 has infected more than 1.4 million worldwide and killed more than 85,000 as of Wednesday.
The quick turns for the worse are likely products of an “overly exuberant” reaction by the immune system as it fights the virus, said Dr Otto Yang, an infectious disease specialist at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles.
Called a cytokine storm, it occurs when the body overproduces immune cells and their activating compounds - cytokines - causing dangerously high blood pressure, lung damage and organ failure. [...]
Journalist Anick Jesdanun, who was in good health and had run 83 marathons, died last week from Covid-19, according to a post on Facebook by his cousin Prinda Mulpramook.
Jesdanun, who was 51, at first didn’t need hospitalisation, according to the post.
He had begun to recover and showed clear lungs and strong vital signs during a doctor’s visit in late March. But “a sudden setback” sent him to the emergency room on April 1, and “13 hours later we lost him”, Mulpramook wrote. [...]
Some of those hospitals are experimenting with unproven drugs in hopes of helping patients, including the anti-malaria medication hydroxychloroquine.
“We’re essentially throwing the kitchen sink at these patients,“ a doctor said.
Other countries are throwing the refrigerator, kitchen sink and toilet bowl at Covid-19......but
ReplyDeletemeanwhile back home the job of our MOH has been made more difficult with the "relaxing" of MCO rules by our R&R (Race & Religion or Rest & Recreation, both applicable) government.
Now everybody can "fly"......ha ha ha....
Can we expect an increase in positive cases in a couple of weeks...???
Our polis/FRU personnel now have to deal with new excuses made available:
eg going for haircut, going to dobi, going to car workshop, going for "char kuat" (massage)...
But still no beer.....where is Menteri Jellyfish Wee KHAT Siong....?
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Industri Automotif (terhad kepada eksport unit siap pasang sepenuhnya – CBU, peralatan dan komponen, serta perkhidmatan selepas jualan contohnya penyelenggaraan).
Industri Mesin dan peralatan
Industri Aeroangkasa
Projek-projek pembinaan dan perkhidmatan berkaitan pembinaan (i) Projek di mana Kontraktor G1–G2 sebagai kontraktor utama (ii) Projek yang telah disahkan mencapai kemajuan fizikal 90% ke atas (iii) Kerja-kerja terowong (iv) Kerja-kerja penyelenggaraan (v) Kerja-kerja cerun (vi) Kerja-kerja kecemasan yang termaktub dalam perjanjian kontrak (vii) Kerja-kerja penyelenggaraan, pembersihan dan pengeringan air bertakung, penyemburan racun serangga di tapak bina bagi mengelakkan pembiakan nyamuk Aedes dan lain-lain haiwan perosak (viii) Kerja-kerja lain yang jika tidak disempurnakan boleh mendatangkan bahaya (ix) Projek bangunan dengan 70 IBS score ke atas (x) Projek pembinaan dengan fasiliti/ kemudahan tempat tinggal untuk pekerja seperti Kuarters Pekerja Berpusat atau kem pekerja (xi) Perkhidmatan profesional yang terlibat dalam industri pembinaan termasuk arkitek, jurutera perancang bandar, juru-ukur tanah, juru ukur bahan, pengurus projek, pengurus fasiliti dan lain-lain berkaitan.
Perkhidmatan sains, profesional dan teknikal termasuk penyelidikan dan pembangunan (R&D) - (hanya terhad kepada: perkhidmatan berkaitan guaman; perkhidmatan berkaitan minyak & gas; aktiviti-aktviti R&D berkaitan COVID19; makmalmakmal ujian bagi sektor-sektor yang dibenarkan beroperasi sahaja.
Perkhidmatan kesihatan sosial termasuk perubatan tradisional yang berdaftar (hanya terhad kepada registered Traditional and Complementary Medicine or TCM practitioners)
Perkhidmatan kedai hardware, kedai barangan elektrik dan elektronik dan kedai cermin mata sahaja dalam pemborongan dan peruncitan.
Perkhidmatan gunting rambut asas (gunting sahaja).
Perkhidmatan dobi (full service dan bukan layan diri)
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