In New York's largest hospital system, 88% of coronavirus patients on ventilators didn't make it

[madville]

Throughout March, as the pandemic gained momentum in the United States, much of the preparations focused on the breathing machines that were supposed to save everyone’s lives.

New York State Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) and President Trump sparred over how many ventilators the state was short. DIYers brainstormed modifications to treat more patients. And ethicists agonized over how to allocate them fairly if we run out.

Researchers found that 20 percent of all those hospitalized died — a finding that’s similar to the percentage who perish in normal times among those who are admitted for respiratory distress.

But the numbers diverge more for the critically ill put on ventilators. Eighty-eight percent of the 320 covid-19 patients on ventilators who were tracked in the study died. That compares with the roughly 80 percent of patients who died on ventilators before the pandemic, according to previous studies — and with the roughly 50 percent death rate some critical care doctors had optimistically hoped when the first cases were diagnosed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/04/22/coronavirus-latest-news/?outputType=amp

[lark]

1. What has been wrought on us?

What kind of monster is this? I've read a few articles where the virus was being compared to AIDS, only way way more transmissible. It's causing kidney failure in some with no/little respiratory issues, some get brain issues but it's supposed to be a respiratory virus. Almost seems like there's multiple strands going around and each is different and very lethal. Fucking drumpf, worst time in the world for a murderous anti-science idiot dictator in waiting to be in charge. He's killing us on purpose to destroy the country so we can't safely vote (he will send out armed rw idiots to kill us, they are gunning up right now) and he can shut us down, cancel the vote, turn us into a fascistic dictatorship and SCOTUS will probably affirm everything he does because they are part of the rw cabal who are stealing our SS $$ right now.

[DeminPennswoods]

2. These are the sickest of the sick

Even the optimistic projection by doctors was 50% survival.

[Mariana]

3. Covid-19 is not "very lethal".

The overwhelming majority of those who contract it survive.

[lark]

4. It's magnitudes more lethal than the flu.

That's the problem, folks think they will be fine but in US, many deaths are not those of elderly people but much younger ones. An athlete with no underlying health issues, 45 years old was in ICU for 5 days on a vent - that's not good.

[Mariana]

6. Yes it is much more lethal than the flu.

Trump and his cronies have utterly bungled the response, leading to way more death and destruction than there could have been. Still, the overwhelming majority of those who contract it survive.

[fescuerescue]

5. 100 people go into a room. 95 come out. Over and over again.

Would you call that room "not very lethal"?

I would fight tooth and nail to NOT enter that room.

[Mariana]

7. I was mostly objecting to the comparison with AIDS

(not HIV, but AIDS as the poster said) which is very lethal. I see I didn't make that clear.

Edited to add: You can't calculate death rates unless you know how many people are infected. We don't know this because still, most people who are sick still can't get tested for this.

[lark]

8. Yes, sorry, I used the wrong term.

I did mean HIV, not the advanced illness of AIDS.

[Demsrule86]

10. The scary thing for me is this virus is an RNA virus like AIDS.

The one thing on our side so far is that T-cells are not created by Corona and then used to create more infected cells...but if evidence emerges that Corona can do this than we have basically an AIDS like illness that is transmitted by touch and is airborne. Even those that survive the initial infection could end up dying as AIDS patients do of opportunistic infections and cancers.

"The study suggests coronavirus can infect T cells. Photo: ShutterstockThe study suggests coronavirus can infect T cells. Photo: Shutterstock
The study suggests coronavirus can infect T cells. Photo: Shutterstock
The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 could kill the powerful immune cells that are supposed to kill the virus instead, scientists have warned.

The surprise discovery, made by a team of researchers from Shanghai and New York, coincided with frontline doctors’ observation that Covid-19 could attack the human immune system and cause damage similar to that found in HIV patients.
Lu Lu, from Fudan University in Shanghai, and Jang Shibo, from the New York Blood Centre, joined the living virus, which is officially known as Sars-CoV-2, to laboratory-grown T lymphocyte cell lines.
T lymphocytes, also known as T cells, play a central role in identifying and eliminating alien invaders in the body.
They do this by capturing a cell infected by a virus, boring a hole in its membrane and injecting toxic chemicals into the cell. These chemicals then kill both the virus and infected cell and tear them to pieces.
Deadly coronavirus comes in three variants, researchers find could-target-immune-system-targeting-protective To the surprise of the scientists, the T cell became a prey to the coronavirus in their experiment. They found a unique structure in the virus’ spike protein that apparently triggered the fusion of a viral envelope and cell membrane when they came into contact.
The virus’s genes then entered the T cell and took it hostage, disabling its function of protecting humans."

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3079443/coronavirus-could-target-immune-system-targeting-protective

12 Apr 2020

[malaise]

9. But but but

Don the criminally negligent Con told me only yesterday that he is the king of ventilators!