I just noticed the new GOP talking point on hospitalizations

[Garion_55]

Mac a dummy said it this morning And hannity just repeated it.

They don't admit that hospitalizations are going up quickly instead what they do say is That the amount of people with covid is only taking up about 12% of total hospital beds across the country right now.

So that proves that hospitals are not getting overrun with covid patients.....somehow.

One, I don't even know what the hell that that is supposed to mean, so what if it's 12% or 40%? Two, that still ignores what is going on over the last 2 weeks. Are hospital beds getting filled up faster and faster or not?

It would be one thing to say that last week the number was 12% and this week the number is 12% so that proves there's no flood of patients, but they aren't even trying to make that argument.

They just Say see? 12%. Like That actually means something. But I guess they can't just admit that yes we're in a bad time hospitalizations are going up everybody! because then trump looks like a failure.

[SoonerPride]

1. Here in Oklahoma City the ER rooms are 100% full and they are sending people out of state

So Hannity can fuck right off.

Well, he could regardless of this issue or not.

Fuck him.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. In MO, the hospitals are getting flooded in KCMO and STLMO with rural trump supporters who ignored

all common sense measures to protect themselves and now they find themselves sick, and unable to go to their rural hospitals, since they (the rural republicans allowed their local rural hospitals to all close (not enough profit for the operator of said hospitals)).

So, because of their limited vision, and attention to their all vaunted measure of profit over lives, some will die because of this.

[greenjar_01]

3. Hospitals run close to capacity

Having a special non-routine event add 12% to hospital usage is disastrous.

[Garion_55]

4. That's my understanding

If hospital beds are already getting filled normally, throwing an extra 12% in 2 or 3 weeks must be devastating

[Voltaire2]

5. the blue metro regions are not in crisis

so their hospitals are not in crisis either. They account for a huge percent of the total hospital beds.

Fun with numbers, except of course if you are in a covid red zone and they are triaging ICU beds.

[treestar]

6. That may be a lot

People can be in a hospital for so many reasons, that could well be very high for one cause.

[Karadeniz]

7. Love the photo... Thanks!

[Liberal In Texas]

8. Don't take their stats as gospel. They lie all the time.

If they said the sun was going to come up tomorrow, I'd make sure I checked out the window first thing in the morning.

The stat could be a real number, but taken way out of context.

I don't know in this case, but it sounds fishy.

[Shermann]

9. Well it's better than focusing on the mortality rate

I'm a bit fatigued about hearing about the mortality rate. First, it's been all over the place since day one. Second, there is no single mortality rate that captures the science. You really need a table based on age. So it's hard to measure accurately and subject to manipulation.

At least the hospitalization rate can be measured accurately and is a reasonably telling indicator of how out of control the pandemic is.

The trouble with that is when all the hospitals get averaged together. So, again, you need a table based on state or even by county.

[Wounded Bear]

11. The mortality rate hasn't started rising noticeably yet...

it's always a lagging indicator and doesn't reflect the rise in cases or hospitalizations for 2-3 weeks at least.

It's coming, though.

[struggle4progress]

10. "Don't worry: the graveyards are nowhere near capacity!"

[Wounded Bear]

12. Yeah, lots of room...