“Treat our Healthcare Heroes with kindness. Don’t take them for granted. Don’t ignore their cry for much needed help. Don’t dismiss their real fears like nothing and insignificant. Don’t continually place them in the meanest, unsafest working conditions. Your heroes learn and remember. Your heroes hearts and spirits breaks. When it’s your time begging and crying for help, they may no longer be there.”

The US has reported its highest one-day Covid-19 death tally: Over 2,800 – CNN 12/3/20

We can manufacture more medications and ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients but we can not manufacture the license professionals that are needed to give and monitor them timely, safely.

Americans are dying of COVID-19 who, had they gotten sick a month earlier, would have lived. This is such a searingly ugly idea that it is worth repeating: Americans are likely dying of COVID-19 now who would have survived had they gotten September’s level of medical care. – The Atlantic, 12/4/20

For some with severe COVID-19 infection and complications it only takes minutes, hours or a few days from the time they arrive at the Emergency Room to death. This short window of emergent life and death situation depends on enough medical staff to administer the medications to treat COVID-19 and place patients on ventilators. Once on ventilators, ICU nurses are needed to monitor patients. Safe nurse to patient ratio is 1:2, ideally it’s 1:1. Once downgraded from ICU, patients still needs continuous care and monitoring by Telemetry and Medical-Surgical Nurses. Safest nurse to patient ratio is 1:5. The bigger the gap between the nurse to patient ratios, the higher the complications and death rate.

Monday, Clinics in our area are back to lockdown mode which means they will NOT see their patients in person because of concern of getting sick or dying. This will cause a flood of sick patients seeking care to our Emergency Rooms and Urgent Care Clinics. For Bedside Healthcare Providers there will be no rest nor holidays this year.

Imagine a hospital functioning with half of the medical professionals whose patient’s survival depends on. It’s terrifying and actually is at play in many of our hospitals now. This will reach crisis mode few weeks post Thanksgiving and Christmas when there may be no more beds and license staff to accommodate and care for the new severe COVID-19 cases. We will see patients in the hallways unmonitored. Some will die alone because medical staff will be triaging the sickest and most emergent when in a disaster. Just like everyone who is free to choose and decide, medical staff are trained to choose and decide which one they will save first when the numbers are overwhelming.

The grim numbers have unleashed devastation across the country: Trailers are turned into morgues and facilities are being converted to emergency hospitals to help respond to the surging number of patients. -CNN 12/1/20

51 PEOPLE ARE DYING EVERY HOUR FROM COVID-19 IN THE U.S. THIS NUMBERS WILL DOUBLE WHEN THE SUPER SURGE ON TOP OF AN EXISTING SURGE BEGINS IN 3-4 WEEKS.

So what happens if most U.S. Hospitals run critically low on its medical staff during its darkest, longest COVID-19 surge? I don’t what to answer that because the possibility is more horrific than what we are already witnessing. I hope and pray I’m wrong, but the trend is spiking too fast, too quick. 2-4 weeks post Thanksgiving, America will experience a Tsunami COVID-19 wave many will wished they stayed home and listened.

Expert says, “I expect that the daily death rate will double in the next 10 days,” he said. “We’ll be seeing close to 4,000 deaths a day.” -CNN News, 10/27/20

There will be a mass exodus of nurses in places where they are treated unsafely, badly and paid poorly. Some will be tempted to go at the many COVID-19 outbreak epicenters in the country because of the monetary incentive, others will move to areas they have a higher chance of being alive. It’s already happening as you read this. It’s going to happen more as it gets worse.

“Early in the pandemic, hospitals were competing for ventilators, COVID tests and personal protective equipment. Now, sites across the country are competing for nurses. The fall surge in COVID cases has turned hospital staffing into a sort of national bidding war, with hospitals willing to pay exorbitant wages to secure the nurses they need. That threatens to shift the supply of nurses toward more affluent areas, leaving rural and urban public hospitals short-staffed as the pandemic worsens, and some hospitals unable to care for critically ill patients.”- by Markian Hawryluk and Rae Ellen Bichell, Kaiser Health News

“No amount of money in this Earth is worth our health, life or happiness. On our last days, we will beg for more time and wished we didn’t waste them chasing the world or people.”

I asked 6 days off to spend time with wife and son for Thanksgiving week. We stayed home, ate the food we love, watched TV, worked out together, redecorated and finished our DIY projects. Absolutely NO flying or traveling where crowds are.

Black Friday, we took a day trip to our favorite roadside spot overlooking Big Sur. We shared Safeway chicken nuggets and Five Guys cheese burger inside the car before taking a short walk to see the ocean up close. Whatever we did, it was all about Family Quality Time and being safe. We slowed down because it’s the only way to enjoy and appreciate our precious borrowed time. We celebrated the Christmas joy early too because we needed it more than ever. We laughed till our bellies hurt and our jaws numbed.

“It’s okay to dream past tomorrow but always enjoy the dream we are thankful now. They go by quick before we even realize they’re already gone. These includes our job, health, life, family, friends, even moments we could have been happier.”

Happy Holidays to all my blogger friends. Thank you for all the inspiration and motivation this year. My world has been better, kinder because of all of you. Truly, I appreciate you. 🙏

“Truth is uncomfortable but it will keep us alive.”

Covid denial, can take forms ranging from a belief that Covid-19 is no more serious than a routine cold, or a belief that face masks aren’t effective at slowing the spread, to the idea that the pandemic is an elaborate hoax. – The Wall Street Journal 12/3/20

Related Articles:

The US Recorded More Than 4 Million COVID-19 Cases In The Month Of November

On Thanksgiving Day, hospitalizations hit a record high of more than 90,000 people, according to the COVID Tracking Project, and about 50 Americans are now dying every hour.

Millions Of Americans Traveling For Thanksgiving, Ignoring CDC Advice

The U.S. could face an “Apocalypse” by Christmas

“Running out of hope. Running out of help.”Nationwide coronavirus surge pushes hospitals to the edge

‘We’re drowning’: COVID cases flood hospitals in America’s heartland

El Paso Texas- Inmates were paid to move hundreds of bodies into mobile morgues; the National Guard is now in charge of the grim task. Funeral homes have turned storage closets into freezers to hold the dead. A crematorium broke down from overuse. The city’s convention center has been transformed into a field hospital. The county judge wonders whether the community has enough gravesites. – The Washington Post

The Covid-19 Vaccine: When Will It Be Available for You?

Need a COVID-19 Nurse? That’ll Be $8,000 a Week

Newsom warns of regional stay-at-home order as COVID-19 hospitalizations hit record