African governments are overreacting to Covid-19 Pandemic

[vooke]

Termie and Garliv

I can't find anything supporting the $13K for Covid-19 admission and $39K for ventilators claim. I suggest it should not be taken as a fact.

What I see is two scenarios, insured and uninsured Americans. The guy spoke about Medicare so he probably had in mind the uninsured. Trump wishes to covers testing and treatment for the uninsured but the package is still gray on how to go about this.

https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/estimated-cost-of-treating-the-uninsured-hospitalized-with-covid-19/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/30/deadly-lack-affordable-covid-19-treatment-us

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-coronavirus-treatment-costs.html


I think the idea that hospitals are rushing to treat Covid-19 cases to get free money is false, but even if it were true it can't explain the explosion of new cases in the US nor deaths unless Covid-19 deaths bring in more money.  The bit about how the $39K ventilator fees account for higher deaths is unclear

[vooke]

Why they buried this negro like a dog is beyond me:

https://www.nation.co.ke/counties/siaya/Suspected-Covid-19-death-Siaya-County-KPA/1183322-5521922-tkn8ciz/index.html

The police report:

SIAYA COUNTY/
UGENYA SUB COUNTY/
UKWALA POLICE STATION.

DATE 11-04-2020

*SUBJECT CORONA VIRUS DEATH*
     ON 11-04-2020  AT 1800 HRS WE RECEIVED A DEATH REPORT  OF CORONA VIRUS ONE THE DECEASED JAMES OYUGI ANYANGO FROM UKWALA LOCATION,SIMUR KONDIEK SUB -LOCATION, KAMALUNGA VILLAGE AGED 59 YRS OLD A WORKER FROM KPA MOMBASA TRAVELLED WITH HIS WIFE AND TWO DAUGHTERS ON 05-04-2020 FROM MOMBASA TO SIAYA.
     ON O5-04-2020 HE SLEPT AT NAIROBI.
     ON 06-04-2020 HE WAS INVOLVED IN A NON INJURY ACCIDENT AT AWASI MARKET AND SLEPT AT KISUMU.
    ON 07-04-2020 HE ARRIVED AT UKWALA USING HIS BROTHERS VEHICLE . AND SINCE O7-04-2020 HE HAS BEEN INDOORS.
    ON 10-04-2020 AT 1000 HRS HE  STARTED TO COUGH HE WAS RUSHED TO MATIBABU FOUNDATION PRIVATE HOSPITAL AND AT 1900 HRS HE DIED.
     ON 11-04-2020 BLOOD SPICIMEN WERE TAKEN TO KEMRI KISUMU RESULTS WERE POSITIVE.
     *WAY FORWARD*
(1) BODY TO BE DISINFECTED AND TO BE BURRIED TODAY NIGHT IN BODY BAGS.
(2) ALL CONTACTS TO BE ROUNDED UP AND TO BE FORCED QUARANTINED AT SIAYA ISOLATION CENTRE.
    FURTHER REPORT TO FOLLOW.

Why bury him at night? Was the KQ pilot buried at night?

This ‘undignified sendoff’ is only stirring more stigma and it may discourage the sick from coming out.

[vooke]

Flattening the epidemiological curve of the coronavirus to buy time until a vaccine can be developed may prove counterproductive for poorer countries if it increases these other causes of mortality. Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we found that between 16 percent and 37 percent of households in lower-income countries are food insecure—people who already face hunger and stand to face increasingly dire circumstances if social distancing measures are imposed.

Poorer countries also have limited capacity to enforce distancing guidelines and to ameliorate problems caused by such policies. Recent Community Mobility Reports published by Google show widespread adherence to social distancing guidelines in high-income countries but smaller changes in mobility trends for workplaces and retail shops in many lower-income countries.

The social distancing and suppression interventions pioneered in Wuhan, China—and now in place throughout Europe and parts of the United States—rely on government support systems. Many workers throughout Europe still receive their salaries, and U.S. taxpayers will receive a stimulus check. By contrast, informal workers in developing countries do not always appear in government and bureaucratic records.

So even in the unlikely event that social insurance policies were implemented in these countries, it is not at all clear how quickly the estimated 50 to 80 percent of workers informally or self-employed in lower-income countries could be located, if at all, to deliver relief benefits to them. In addition, a lockdown may have counterproductive effects if it forces informal sector workers and migrants to reverse-migrate from densely populated urban areas and spread the disease to remote rural areas of poor countries.

Efforts by the Indian government to impose a lockdown already appear to have had significant negative consequences for the most vulnerable members of its population. Interviews with workers from the informal sector tell a story of impending poverty, evictions, and hunger, as their incomes and work opportunities have been curtailed. Migrant laborers in India’s largest cities, now without access to employment, are without food or shelter. Thousands are in the process of literally walking back to their homes, with deaths along the way already being reported. These mortality consequences cannot be ignored when devising public policy strategies to contain the coronavirus

.


https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/10/poor-countries-social-distancing-coronavirus/

[gout]

That Siaya idiot endangered so many people and health workers. Should have been cremated!

Siaya might become another hotspot given the other idiotic priest shit. Seems this sucker was driving even when he had COVID related breathing problems thus the accident. He must have gone insane and couldn't accept the obvious. The family members are also morons - the thing is manageable. The team burying him seems quite mad and rightly so.

[gout]

The bullshit talk by predatory jack of al trades Gates (and his funded proxies) about vaccine and 'cure' does not make any sense given the recovery rates being recorded on COVID 19. What is already being used to manage the patient is quite effective.

Just because we have cures and vaccines does not stop people dying of diarrhea, show the issue is function health systems which likes of Gates have demolished in the West. Neoliberal govts do not want to invest in functional public services thus the nonsense.

Flattening the epidemiological curve of the coronavirus to buy time until a vaccine can be developed may prove counterproductive for poorer countries if it increases these other causes of mortality. Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we found that between 16 percent and 37 percent of households in lower-income countries are food insecure—people who already face hunger and stand to face increasingly dire circumstances if social distancing measures are imposed.

Poorer countries also have limited capacity to enforce distancing guidelines and to ameliorate problems caused by such policies. Recent Community Mobility Reports published by Google show widespread adherence to social distancing guidelines in high-income countries but smaller changes in mobility trends for workplaces and retail shops in many lower-income countries.

The social distancing and suppression interventions pioneered in Wuhan, China—and now in place throughout Europe and parts of the United States—rely on government support systems. Many workers throughout Europe still receive their salaries, and U.S. taxpayers will receive a stimulus check. By contrast, informal workers in developing countries do not always appear in government and bureaucratic records.

So even in the unlikely event that social insurance policies were implemented in these countries, it is not at all clear how quickly the estimated 50 to 80 percent of workers informally or self-employed in lower-income countries could be located, if at all, to deliver relief benefits to them. In addition, a lockdown may have counterproductive effects if it forces informal sector workers and migrants to reverse-migrate from densely populated urban areas and spread the disease to remote rural areas of poor countries.

Efforts by the Indian government to impose a lockdown already appear to have had significant negative consequences for the most vulnerable members of its population. Interviews with workers from the informal sector tell a story of impending poverty, evictions, and hunger, as their incomes and work opportunities have been curtailed. Migrant laborers in India’s largest cities, now without access to employment, are without food or shelter. Thousands are in the process of literally walking back to their homes, with deaths along the way already being reported. These mortality consequences cannot be ignored when devising public policy strategies to contain the coronavirus

.


https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/10/poor-countries-social-distancing-coronavirus/

[GeeMail]

The bullshit talk by predatory jack of al trades Gates (and his funded proxies) about vaccine and 'cure' does not make any sense given the recovery rates being recorded on COVID 19. What is already being used to manage the patient is quite effective.

Just because we have cures and vaccines does not stop people dying of diarrhea, show the issue is function health systems which likes of Gates have demolished in the West. Neoliberal govts do not want to invest in functional public services thus the nonsense.

Flattening the epidemiological curve of the coronavirus to buy time until a vaccine can be developed may prove counterproductive for poorer countries if it increases these other causes of mortality. Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we found that between 16 percent and 37 percent of households in lower-income countries are food insecure—people who already face hunger and stand to face increasingly dire circumstances if social distancing measures are imposed.

Poorer countries also have limited capacity to enforce distancing guidelines and to ameliorate problems caused by such policies. Recent Community Mobility Reports published by Google show widespread adherence to social distancing guidelines in high-income countries but smaller changes in mobility trends for workplaces and retail shops in many lower-income countries.

The social distancing and suppression interventions pioneered in Wuhan, China—and now in place throughout Europe and parts of the United States—rely on government support systems. Many workers throughout Europe still receive their salaries, and U.S. taxpayers will receive a stimulus check. By contrast, informal workers in developing countries do not always appear in government and bureaucratic records.

So even in the unlikely event that social insurance policies were implemented in these countries, it is not at all clear how quickly the estimated 50 to 80 percent of workers informally or self-employed in lower-income countries could be located, if at all, to deliver relief benefits to them. In addition, a lockdown may have counterproductive effects if it forces informal sector workers and migrants to reverse-migrate from densely populated urban areas and spread the disease to remote rural areas of poor countries.

Efforts by the Indian government to impose a lockdown already appear to have had significant negative consequences for the most vulnerable members of its population. Interviews with workers from the informal sector tell a story of impending poverty, evictions, and hunger, as their incomes and work opportunities have been curtailed. Migrant laborers in India’s largest cities, now without access to employment, are without food or shelter. Thousands are in the process of literally walking back to their homes, with deaths along the way already being reported. These mortality consequences cannot be ignored when devising public policy strategies to contain the coronavirus

.


https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/10/poor-countries-social-distancing-coronavirus/

Gout don't kneejerk this one. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331538/WHO-COVID-19-lPC_DBMgmt-2020.1-eng.pdf 

[vooke]

That Siaya idiot endangered so many people and health workers. Should have been cremated!

Siaya might become another hotspot given the other idiotic priest shit. Seems this sucker was driving even when he had COVID related breathing problems thus the accident. He must have gone insane and couldn't accept the obvious. The family members are also morons - the thing is manageable. The team burying him seems quite mad and rightly so.

How was it his fault?

Blame his employer for negligence.

You are likely to get another cluster following the KRA manager who perished a few days ago.

[gout]

This are extra-ordibary times and primary duty/responsibility is on individuals. For sake of self preservation and for care of family, colleagues, healthworkers.

No 'employer' has ability to follow its staff around in these extra ordinary times.

That Siaya idiot endangered so many people and health workers. Should have been cremated!

Siaya might become another hotspot given the other idiotic priest shit. Seems this sucker was driving even when he had COVID related breathing problems thus the accident. He must have gone insane and couldn't accept the obvious. The family members are also morons - the thing is manageable. The team burying him seems quite mad and rightly so.

How was it his fault?

Blame his employer for negligence.

You are likely to get another cluster following the KRA manager who perished a few days ago.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Termie and Garliv

I can't find anything supporting the $13K for Covid-19 admission and $39K for ventilators claim. I suggest it should not be taken as a fact.

What I see is two scenarios, insured and uninsured Americans. The guy spoke about Medicare so he probably had in mind the uninsured. Trump wishes to covers testing and treatment for the uninsured but the package is still gray on how to go about this.

https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/estimated-cost-of-treating-the-uninsured-hospitalized-with-covid-19/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/30/deadly-lack-affordable-covid-19-treatment-us

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-coronavirus-treatment-costs.html


I think the idea that hospitals are rushing to treat Covid-19 cases to get free money is false, but even if it were true it can't explain the explosion of new cases in the US nor deaths unless Covid-19 deaths bring in more money.  The bit about how the $39K ventilator fees account for higher deaths is unclear

I was pretty sure about that.  I was giving Garliv a chance to share something that might make me reconsider my position.

And yes, I believe there is a connection between money and prescription of certain drugs.  I have seen evidence of that.  This particular medicare "scam" does not compute though.

[Georgesoros]

Those of you who think being in shape can’t get it
From NYT

2020
Updated 7:12 p.m. ET
SEATTLE — At the end of February, Dr. Ryan Padgett’s colleagues in the emergency room called him over to share some news: A patient who had died the previous day had tested positive for the coronavirus — the first known death in the United States.

Everything, they knew, was about to change. Over the next several days, a parade of patients from a nearby nursing home was brought into the emergency room at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, Wash., which emerged as the first center of the nation’s coronavirus outbreak.

The patients were in dire condition, struggling for air. But most of them were old, and some were already sick. Dr. Padgett did not worry much for himself. The 45-year-old physician kept in shape with gym visits and skiing trips. Back in college at Northwestern, he had been an All-Big Ten offensive guard, helping lead the team to the Rose Bowl after the 1995 season. In 21 years on the job, almost all at EvergreenHealth, he said he had taken only five sick days.

Then one day in early March, he felt a headache coming on, which was unusual for him. His muscles were sore. By March 9, he had a fever and a cough. Two days later, his breathing was so labored that he realized he was going to become a patient in his own hospital.

“Either this thing is a beast or I’m just not used to being sick,” he texted a friend. “My Ironman immune system failed me.”

Dr. Padgett was one of the first two emergency room physicians in the country to be hospitalized in intensive care with the coronavirus. His case, which he shared publicly on Monday for the first time, offers a harrowing window into the risks faced by front-line medical workers and the devastating impacts that coronavirus can have on some people who are otherwise healthy.

For Dr. Padgett, who hovered at one point near death in a medically induced coma, it took medical teams at two hospitals to bring him back from the brink.

Back at his home in Seattle, still weak from his three-week ordeal, Dr. Padgett in a telephone interview described an illness that left him feeling as though he had, for the first time in his life, utterly lost control.

[vooke]

This nurse nearly had a mental breakdown

This nurse opened up about her 'worst shift' yet, exposing the heartbreaking reality of health care workers fighting the pandemic pic.twitter.com/BD5wziDthm

— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) April 13, 2020

?s=21

[Dear Mami]

Like I said before, I refused to believe the 'it's exaggerated' line because I checked and found annual flu mortalities in Italy are 8,000 and that's less than half of what Covid has done in Italy in a matter of weeks. In addition, their healthcare system has been collapsing and doctors improvising third-world style coz they've run out of ventilators. There's just no way something hasn't gone drastically wrong in a NEW way, and that this is all just a misunderstanding of data. Those deaths and people needing help just to breathe all at once are not made up.

[Garliv]

 CARES ACT SECTION 4409. Where hospitals are compensated 15% more should they admit or loses a patient to Covid-19. That is incentive enough and there enough credible stories of doctors questioning a lot to do with Coronavirus and how numbers are added up or even tested. But then 80% chances you'd dismiss them as conspiratorial. 


NB: Amazingly CARES ACT (US version of Coronavirus Relief Package) is mostly a rescue package for Wall Street. Lots of Trillions to rescue corporate America while they mail $1,200 to the vulnerable. Uhuru also came up with a "rescue package" which wanainchi didn't understand but corporate sector can as easily celebrate.
 

SEC. 4409. MEDICARE HOSPITAL INPATIENT PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM ADD-ON PAYMENT FOR COVID–19 PATIENTS DURING EMERGENCY PERIOD.
(a) In General.—Section 1886(d)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(4)(C)) is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:


“(iv) (I) For discharges occurring during the emergency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B), in the case of a discharge that has a principal or secondary diagnosis of COVID–19, the Secretary shall increase the weighting factor for each diagnosis-related group (with such a principal or secondary diagnosis) by 15 percent.

“(II) Any adjustment under subclause (I) shall not be taken into account in applying budget neutrality under clause (iii).”.

(b) Implementation.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary may implement the amendment made by subsection (a) by program instruction or otherwise.

Termie and Garliv

I can't find anything supporting the $13K for Covid-19 admission and $39K for ventilators claim. I suggest it should not be taken as a fact.

What I see is two scenarios, insured and uninsured Americans. The guy spoke about Medicare so he probably had in mind the uninsured. Trump wishes to covers testing and treatment for the uninsured but the package is still gray on how to go about this.

https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/estimated-cost-of-treating-the-uninsured-hospitalized-with-covid-19/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/30/deadly-lack-affordable-covid-19-treatment-us

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-coronavirus-treatment-costs.html


I think the idea that hospitals are rushing to treat Covid-19 cases to get free money is false, but even if it were true it can't explain the explosion of new cases in the US nor deaths unless Covid-19 deaths bring in more money.  The bit about how the $39K ventilator fees account for higher deaths is unclear

I was pretty sure about that.  I was giving Garliv a chance to share something that might make me reconsider my position.

And yes, I believe there is a connection between money and prescription of certain drugs.  I have seen evidence of that.  This particular medicare "scam" does not compute though.

[Garliv]

Last i followed that story, it sounded like it was case of murder. There simply was no time or opportunity to test for Covid-19. Absolutely none. You know "in the name of Corona" anything can easily pass the radar..

That Siaya idiot endangered so many people and health workers. Should have been cremated!

Siaya might become another hotspot given the other idiotic priest shit. Seems this sucker was driving even when he had COVID related breathing problems thus the accident. He must have gone insane and couldn't accept the obvious. The family members are also morons - the thing is manageable. The team burying him seems quite mad and rightly so.

[Garliv]

1. Covid-19, even to those hysterical, admit that MAJORITY of those who get it or are positive may not even be aware. Others shows mild to moderate symptoms. And only a small percentage of the population need hospitalization. And then only a fraction of that are at huge risk of dying. And that's why "the most vulnerable" are said to be those with serious underlying conditions.

2. Vaccines may or may not work. AND ONLY HERD IMMUNITY will eventually contain this coronavirus. Otherwise we may be stuck indoors for the next two years. As some are saying.. "new way of living..". "no more social gathering for quite a while..." blah blah... Sounds like some class is being attended..

3. Finally, of course me and you have different interpretation of figures being thrown around for Covid-19. You totally believe what you hear from mainstream but i question... 

Here's an epidemiologist who thinks Covid-19 isn't a big deal and people should be let to mingle so as to attain herd immunity and move on.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/epidemiologist-coronavirus-could-be-exterminated-if-lockdowns-were-lifted/

Asked about Anthony Fauci, the White House medical expert who for weeks has been predicting significant numbers of COVID-19 deaths in America as well as major ongoing disruptions to daily life possibly for years, Wittkowski replied: “Well, I’m not paid by the government, so I’m entitled to actually do science.”[/u]

Oh my... I was right!!!
Herd immunity is achieved when everyone is immune to the disease. A vaccine or plasma can make that possible, but nothing yet. Letting the disease kill everyone in order to achieve immunity is a Trump idea.
Keep reading dumb articles so that you can be dumber..

[vooke]

1. Where are $13,000 and $39,000 figures, or ANY figure for that matter?

2. How does this section incentivize faking positive cases and fatalities?

CARES ACT SECTION 4409. Where hospitals are compensated 15% more should they admit or loses a patient to Covid-19. That is incentive enough and there enough credible stories of doctors questioning a lot to do with Coronavirus and how numbers are added up or even tested. But then 80% chances you'd dismiss them as conspiratorial. 


NB: Amazingly CARES ACT (US version of Coronavirus Relief Package) is mostly a rescue package for Wall Street. Lots of Trillions to rescue corporate America while they mail $1,200 to the vulnerable. Uhuru also came up with a "rescue package" which wanainchi didn't understand but corporate sector can as easily celebrate.
 

SEC. 4409. MEDICARE HOSPITAL INPATIENT PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM ADD-ON PAYMENT FOR COVID–19 PATIENTS DURING EMERGENCY PERIOD.
(a) In General.—Section 1886(d)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(4)(C)) is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:


“(iv) (I) For discharges occurring during the emergency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B), in the case of a discharge that has a principal or secondary diagnosis of COVID–19, the Secretary shall increase the weighting factor for each diagnosis-related group (with such a principal or secondary diagnosis) by 15 percent.

“(II) Any adjustment under subclause (I) shall not be taken into account in applying budget neutrality under clause (iii).”.

(b) Implementation.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary may implement the amendment made by subsection (a) by program instruction or otherwise.

Termie and Garliv

I can't find anything supporting the $13K for Covid-19 admission and $39K for ventilators claim. I suggest it should not be taken as a fact.

What I see is two scenarios, insured and uninsured Americans. The guy spoke about Medicare so he probably had in mind the uninsured. Trump wishes to covers testing and treatment for the uninsured but the package is still gray on how to go about this.

https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/estimated-cost-of-treating-the-uninsured-hospitalized-with-covid-19/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/30/deadly-lack-affordable-covid-19-treatment-us

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-coronavirus-treatment-costs.html


I think the idea that hospitals are rushing to treat Covid-19 cases to get free money is false, but even if it were true it can't explain the explosion of new cases in the US nor deaths unless Covid-19 deaths bring in more money.  The bit about how the $39K ventilator fees account for higher deaths is unclear

I was pretty sure about that.  I was giving Garliv a chance to share something that might make me reconsider my position.

And yes, I believe there is a connection between money and prescription of certain drugs.  I have seen evidence of that.  This particular medicare "scam" does not compute though.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

CARES ACT SECTION 4409. Where hospitals are compensated 15% more should they admit or loses a patient to Covid-19. That is incentive enough and there enough credible stories of doctors questioning a lot to do with Coronavirus and how numbers are added up or even tested. But then 80% chances you'd dismiss them as conspiratorial. 


NB: Amazingly CARES ACT (US version of Coronavirus Relief Package) is mostly a rescue package for Wall Street. Lots of Trillions to rescue corporate America while they mail $1,200 to the vulnerable. Uhuru also came up with a "rescue package" which wanainchi didn't understand but corporate sector can as easily celebrate.
 

SEC. 4409. MEDICARE HOSPITAL INPATIENT PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM ADD-ON PAYMENT FOR COVID–19 PATIENTS DURING EMERGENCY PERIOD.
(a) In General.—Section 1886(d)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(4)(C)) is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:


“(iv) (I) For discharges occurring during the emergency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B), in the case of a discharge that has a principal or secondary diagnosis of COVID–19, the Secretary shall increase the weighting factor for each diagnosis-related group (with such a principal or secondary diagnosis) by 15 percent.

“(II) Any adjustment under subclause (I) shall not be taken into account in applying budget neutrality under clause (iii).”.

(b) Implementation.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary may implement the amendment made by subsection (a) by program instruction or otherwise.

I was pretty sure about that.  I was giving Garliv a chance to share something that might make me reconsider my position.

And yes, I believe there is a connection between money and prescription of certain drugs.  I have seen evidence of that.  This particular medicare "scam" does not compute though.

It looks like the idea is to fund medicare to handle an anticipated covid-19 spike during the emergency.  Medicare covers seniors and already has a budget that does not cover covid-19.  The bill addresses that far as I can tell.  I think we can agree that is reasonable.  If you don't do that, hospitals are going to be in a bind.

You are saying it can be abused.  But that is not the same as saying it has been abused.  It would be a bit like accusing the school bursar of stealing money, because he can.  Hospitals in the US have chains of accountability that make such abuse unlikely.

[Garliv]

This is not the first winter/flu season that has overwhelmed hospitals in Italy or elsewhere including the US. Translate this page and you see Milan in January 2018.
https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/18_gennaio_10/milano-terapie-intensive-collasso-l-influenza-gia-48-malati-gravi-molte-operazioni-rinviate-c9dc43a6-f5d1-11e7-9b06-fe054c3be5b2.shtml

In the US January 2018 Hospitals were stretched thin attending to flu patients
https://www.statnews.com/2018/01/15/flu-hospital-pandemics/

Same time Alabama was declaring state of emergency.
https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/

In the UK last December they had a crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/02/nhs-winter-crisis-extra-beds-created-by-52-per-cent-of-uk-hospitals

Spain in 2017 Flu season meant collapse of Spanish hospitals
https://www.huffingtonpost.es/2017/01/13/gripe-colapso-hospitales_n_14135402.html

Point is; THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME countries are experiencing this. And there was no Covid-19. It is "normal flu"... Of course you are aware winter/flu season in Europe and North America is nothing compared to Tropics.


As for italy, consider this quote from Italian official sources;

The way in which we code deaths in our country is very generous in the sense that all the people who die in hospitals with the coronavirus are deemed to be dying of the coronavirus […] On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died have at least one pre-morbidity – many had two or three,”

https://www.fort-russ.com/2020/03/italy-only-12-of-covid19-deaths-actually-list-covid19-as-cause/ and even Telegraph reported it and others too..
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/have-many-coronavirus-patients-died-italy/

So your figures on Italian Covid-19 deaths  is not accurate. Annual flu death in Italy is average between 20-25k. Remember it's a country of 60milion people

Like I said before, I refused to believe the 'it's exaggerated' line because I checked and found annual flu mortalities in Italy are 8,000 and that's less than half of what Covid has done in Italy in a matter of weeks. In addition, their healthcare system has been collapsing and doctors improvising third-world style coz they've run out of ventilators. There's just no way something hasn't gone drastically wrong in a NEW way, and that this is all just a misunderstanding of data. Those deaths and people needing help just to breathe all at once are not made up.

[Georgesoros]

CARES ACT SECTION 4409. Where hospitals are compensated 15% more should they admit or loses a patient to Covid-19. That is incentive enough and there enough credible stories of doctors questioning a lot to do with Coronavirus and how numbers are added up or even tested. But then 80% chances you'd dismiss them as conspiratorial. 


NB: Amazingly CARES ACT (US version of Coronavirus Relief Package) is mostly a rescue package for Wall Street. Lots of Trillions to rescue corporate America while they mail $1,200 to the vulnerable. Uhuru also came up with a "rescue package" which wanainchi didn't understand but corporate sector can as easily celebrate.
 

SEC. 4409. MEDICARE HOSPITAL INPATIENT PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM ADD-ON PAYMENT FOR COVID–19 PATIENTS DURING EMERGENCY PERIOD.
(a) In General.—Section 1886(d)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(4)(C)) is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:


“(iv) (I) For discharges occurring during the emergency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B), in the case of a discharge that has a principal or secondary diagnosis of COVID–19, the Secretary shall increase the weighting factor for each diagnosis-related group (with such a principal or secondary diagnosis) by 15 percent.

“(II) Any adjustment under subclause (I) shall not be taken into account in applying budget neutrality under clause (iii).”.

(b) Implementation.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary may implement the amendment made by subsection (a) by program instruction or otherwise.

I was pretty sure about that.  I was giving Garliv a chance to share something that might make me reconsider my position.

And yes, I believe there is a connection between money and prescription of certain drugs.  I have seen evidence of that.  This particular medicare "scam" does not compute though.

It looks like the idea is to fund medicare to handle an anticipated covid-19 spike during the emergency.  Medicare covers seniors and already has a budget that does not cover covid-19.  The bill addresses that far as I can tell.  I think we can agree that is reasonable.  If you don't do that, hospitals are going to be in a bind.

You are saying it can be abused.  But that is not the same as saying it has been abused.  It would be a bit like accusing the school bursar of stealing money, because he can.  Hospitals in the US have chains of accountability that make such abuse unlikely.

Bit
do you realize this person has a mental health problem.
If you don’t believe me just listen to his Arguments and  trumps

[vooke]

Like I said before, I refused to believe the 'it's exaggerated' line because I checked and found annual flu mortalities in Italy are 8,000 and that's less than half of what Covid has done in Italy in a matter of weeks. In addition, their healthcare system has been collapsing and doctors improvising third-world style coz they've run out of ventilators. There's just no way something hasn't gone drastically wrong in a NEW way, and that this is all just a misunderstanding of data. Those deaths and people needing help just to breathe all at once are not made up.

The Italian flu fatalities figures are way too higher than 8K. I saw a study of 3 or 4 years where they registered 65K deaths.

I have no doubt SARS-CoV-2 is a killer in US &EU and I can't question the efforts here. But we just don't see that here in Africa.