Rural U.S. Hospitals Are on Life Support as a Third Wave of COVID-19 Strikes

[tulipsandroses]

Meanwhile trump lies about doctors inflating covid #s for profit. I'm sure some of these rural areas probably lean republican.



Rural U.S. Hospitals Are on Life Support as a Third Wave of COVID-19 Strikes

The middle of a pandemic is a bad time for a hospital to close. Yet Southwest Georgia Regional isn’t unique. Hospitals in St. Paul, Minn., Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia have recently closed or are set to do so soon. And in rural areas of the country, where hospitals often have enough beds for just a few dozen patients, 15 facilities have shuttered this year as of Oct. 20, including 11 since March, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There may be as many as 18 such closures in 2020, topping last year’s record high. The hospitals in the worst financial shape generally have one thing in common: they serve the country’s most vulnerable people, who rely on Medicare and Medicaid or who are poor and uninsured.

When the pandemic struck, just about all hospitals took a financial hit. Cash-cow elective surgeries were suspended for weeks to curb viral spread. Hospitals that weren’t treating many COVID-19 patients simply ate that loss, while expenses skyrocketed at those that were, due to high demand for personal protective equipment and labor costs. A September report from hospital insights firm Kaufman Hall found that operating margins for U.S. hospitals were down 89% in the first eight months of the year, excluding federal relief funds.

Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama are among a dozen states that have not expanded Medicaid, despite having the highest percentage of financially at-risk hospitals among all states with five or more rural hospitals. The reluctance largely stems from the ACA’s unpopularity among Republicans. To make the idea more palatable, the Mississippi Hospital Association has proposed an ACA-style expansion plan like the one passed in Indiana under then-governor Mike Pence, who’s now the vice president. Still, the topic remains politically fraught.

[link:https://time.com/5901656/coronavirus-hospital-closures/|

[NCjack]

1. Honey Trump don't give shit -- he has lifetime healthcare through military hospitals.

(He must remember to get those bone spurs and syphilitic balls fixed on next visit.)

[MaryMagdaline]

2. But I thought doctors got more money when it's Covid

[TheFarseer]

6. They're getting rich

Just like those greedy climate scientists

[soothsayer]

3. First wave

[regnaD kciN]

4. Second wave, I'd say...

The second surge in the U.S., in early summer, was probably due to Republican states opening too soon. This looks to be a genuine second wave, based on how it’s similarly spreading throughout other countries.

[stillcool]

7. I don't think it matters...

people will call it whatever they call it, regardless.

Is the second wave here? COVID-19 cases jump in 45 states
by: Nexstar Media Wire

Posted: Oct 14, 2020 / 07:21 PM EDT / Updated: Oct 14, 2020 / 07:21 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The United States has passed an average of 50,000 new coronavirus cases each day as cases continue to rise nationwide. It’s a mark the country hasn’t seen since mid August.
https://www.abc27.com/news/health/coronavirus/is-the-second-wave-here-covid-19-cases-jump-in-45-states/
COVID-19 cases have been steadily increasing since September 12. As of Wednesday, the 14-day average in case increases was 21% as 45 states were labeled as seeing an increase in cases over the last two weeks, according to the New York Times.

This comes as record-high daily cases hit several European countries. Spain declared a state of emergency for Madrid amid increasing tensions between local and national authorities over virus containment measures. Germany offered up soldiers to help with contact tracing in newly flaring hotspots. Italy mandated masks outdoors and warned that for the first time since the country became the European epicenter of the pandemic, the health system was facing “significant critical issues” as hospitals fill up.

So is this the “second wave” of coronavirus cases everyone has been talking about?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, says no.

“Given the fact that we have never got down to a good baseline, we are still in the first wave,” Fauci told CNN a couple weeks ago.

[stillcool]

5. third peak of first wave...

that's a hell of a wave. I assume Europe is now experiencing the second wave?