The pandemic and a lifeboat

Shannon Bohrer

(10/2021) As we continue to experience the pandemic, we seem to be separated into two distinct camps, one with intractable differences related to the belief in medical science. The other believes in science. Normally, having two different views is not a problem, but not believing in medical science in our current health crises literally has deadly consequences. I am reminded of the opening lines in the book, A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness..." Charles Dickens wrote those words in 1859, and for many people, they reflect our current situation.

While our differences existed before, since COVID-19-19, our differentiations have stretched our medical resources, including our hospitals. One side believed that COVID-19 was a pandemic, and we needed to isolate and wear a mask. The other side said it was no more dangerous than the flu and that wearing a mask was subjugation that would lead to tyranny. Even when the infections exploded and hospitals were full of COVID-19 patients, and record numbers of people were dying, facts and science were dismissed as conspiracy theories or fake news.

Under normal circumstances, the two political parties are at odds over proposed legislation, tax laws, international trade, etc. The problem is that we are not under normal circumstances; with COVID-19, our circumstances are anything but normal. As hospitals reach their capacity, again, a continuing concern is what happens when there is no more room? Our current situation is akin to the ethical lifeboat question. If the lifeboat has limited capacity, who is allowed to enter?

Hospitals in numerous states are filling up with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients. While this is being written, a few states have no more room in their ICUs (Intensive Care Unit). They have turned emergency rooms into ICUs and turned parking lots into emergency rooms. Even before the new COVID-19 strain, there were documented deaths, not from COVID-19, but because of a lack of medical care. Our hospitals are normally busy with many of our other ills, like heart attacks and accidents. We are now in another wave, with the new variant, what some have called the pandemic of the unvaccinated.

We know that that the hospitals are experiencing saturation levels. Should hospitals take into consideration those that have been vaccinated ahead of those that refuse to be vaccinated? What happens when a hospital has no more ICU beds? Are the patients lined up in a waiting room? What if there is a bad accident and medical treatment is needed immediately? Would a hospital take someone in serious condition that is in an ICU and move them to make room for someone – who is in worse condition? Who decides the worst condition, and who will be responsible for making the decisions?

One answer to the problem would be to build more hospitals and train more medical staff. Since that is not possible – at least in the short term, we need other solutions to alleviate our overburdened medical system.

I would suggest that the people who don't believe in science and will not get vaccinated should have their own alternative medical facilities. When they feel ill or catch COVID-19 they should be taken to their alternative care facility. Buildings for alternate medical facilities can be easily found since we have an overabundance of office space.

An obvious problem will seem to be that if you have additional facilities, you need additional medical personal. That potential problem is solvable. Since the patients don't believe in science, the caretakers would not have to be medically trained. Not utilizing medically trained workers would also help to alleviate the staffing in our already overburdened medical systems.

The solution to staffing the alternative facilities is simple. Viewing the news of school board meetings debating the mandatory use of masks, you will observe many people that are experts on the freedoms we have, which include the freedom not to wear a mask. Since these individuals appear to be experts in their field of mask vs. freedom, they could be hired as caretakers. This solves several problems. The school boards meetings should be more civil, and if the children of these parents get sick, they will have a place to take their unmasked child. After all, if you don't believe in a mask, you probably don't want your child around another child that wears a mask. That could negatively influence your child - if they observe what you deem as poor behavior.

As to the treatment and medical supplies, the alternative hospitals could be fully stocked without affecting the existing hospitals. Since masks will not be needed, the existing hospitals can keep their personal protective equipment (PPEs). As to medications, the alternative hospitals can be initially stocked with bleach and strong lights. Strong lights are supposed to fight the virus, but we have not figured out how to put the lights in the body yet. I

am sure that some of the masking experts from the school board meetings can find a solution. Other early medications included chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine. While these are known medicines for humans, just not for the virus, some forms of chloroquine are used to clean fish tanks. Since a few people have died from taking chloroquine, it should be labeled. One of the newest treatments is ivermectin, which kills worms in farm animals. This medicine has the capability of having dosing issues. We use ivermectin to worm horses, so a full tube would have to be divided, I guess, by the weight of the patient.

I feel that many of you, while reading this, are thinking that this suggestion is crazy, and I agree with you. However, how crazy is it when emergency rooms turn away critically ill patients? In our current situation, we know people have died because of a lack of emergency medical care – because of an overloaded system. Some hospitals that are out of ICU beds, or lifeboat space, are shipping or attempting to ship critically ill patients to other facilities. I say attempt - because many times, there are no openings at other hospitals. Is this our age of wisdom and foolishness?