Heart conditions drove spike in deaths

Washington Post ^ | 7-2-20 | Reis Thebault, Lenny Bernstein, Andrew Ba Tran Youjin Shin

[spintreebob]

... 75,000 “excess deaths” during that period, 17,000 more than the number officially attributed to covid-19, the disease the virus causes.

While several experts said some of the excess deaths in the analysis were almost certainly unrecognized fatalities from covid-19, the review suggests that many patients suffering from serious conditions died as a result of delaying or not seeking care as the outbreak progressed and swamped some hospitals.

Normally, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. But in the early months of the pandemic, some hospital departments were nearly devoid of the heart, cancer, stroke and other patients who populated them before.

[spintreebob]

Opening the economy includes Medical providers resuming treatment for non-COVID-19 problems. They are losing money, just like other parts of the economy. But they are also losing lives due to being in lockdown.

[susannah59]

I’ve also read predictions that cancer deaths are expected to increase and that the increase may be seen over the next decade. Not only have routine screenings been delayed but some diagnostic procedures as well.

Sometimes the services just aren’t available and sometimes the patients are delaying things for fear of COVID.

Telemedicine is great in some situations, but some things have to be done in person and hands on.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I’m sure that’s true.

It’s all a big complex system and one disruption is going to have ripple effects far out into the future.

[Sergio]

bkmk

[I want the USA back]

Yes, because hospitals were closed to all but cv19 patients.

[LibertyOh]

In Ohio hospitals were closed to “elective” procedures but people were afraid to go in spite of having symptoms. I first found I was in AFib soon after the shutdown and purchasing a Kardia. I’ve gone to the hospital several times for testing and 3 times for electrocadroversion since then. During the shutdown it was a ghost town and some of the techs discussed people not coming in even for heart attacks.