AZ Finally Comes Up With A Better Way to Show COVID-Related Hospital Capacity
Now that the COVID wave in Arizona is receding, the ADHS Data Dashboard finally has come up with a better way to show COVID-related hospital bed use. Had this been in use at the peak, I think the general panic about overwhelmed hospitals might have been reduced. I would consider this serious but not disastrous, with some squeezing out of less urgent or delay-able procedures but still with substantial non-COVID capacity remaining.
Postscript: I have an acquaintance, a man in his late 70's, who passed away this week. He had a long history of heart issues and had something go wrong again. The ICU in his area of California was apparently full -- could have been COVID, could have been the fires in the area, but he had to be flown to another. He passed away at the new location, and I don't know if the ICU shuffle was the cause or a contributor but it certainly did not help. So I am not arguing ICU loads are not important -- this is why we all were mostly OK with "flatten the curve" (but not necessarily with "hide for months or years until the disease completely goes away"). But the situation has been grossly exaggerated to scare people and that makes me angry.
