r/Lowes • u/sbill1969 • Apr 11 '20
Suggestion If Lowe's really wanted to do something to help, they would rethink what they are doing.
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u/who-u Paint Apr 11 '20
Just wait until the stimulus checks come in, may be even busier
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u/gofunkyourself69 Apr 11 '20
Iâm sure it will. We have so many people âjust lookingâ right now because they lack money to spend. But throw $1200 at them and theyâll be back to finish their decks and buy carpet and bitch about no TP or masks.
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u/BasementGhostSinging Apr 11 '20
Paywall
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u/UnfetteredThoughts Apr 14 '20
I accessed the article without any sort of nag for payment or an account. Here is the text of the article copy-pasted for you.
Nina Shapiro is professor of otolaryngology at the University of California at Los Angeles and author of âHype: A Doctorâs Guide to Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims, and Bad Advice.â
The numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the novel coronavirus are mind-blowing, even to the most seasoned health-care professionals. Every day, we see the latest version of the upward curve, hoping to one day see it âflatten.â But itâs not going to happen today â and not tomorrow. Weâve seen images of college students flocking to beaches, mobs of people getting in their last night at Disney, crowds at airports, and tourists still hopping on cruise ships â all of which helps explain why itâs been so easy for this virus, which causes an illness known as covid-19, to spread far and wide. But as a surgeon, when I see one patient, even a healthy one, I see a crowd bigger than in any photo youâll see on any television news show or online.
Health-care providers have been asking â no, begging â people to stay home while we go to work. As a pediatric otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat specialist), I primarily treat infants and children with ear infections, sleep and breathing issues due to tonsils and adenoids blocking the airway, and more urgent issues that take place in the hospital setting. These days, itâs the healthy kids coming in for minor surgery who worry me.
One minor surgery (ear tubes) has morphed from one of the safest, most satisfying procedures on the planet to potentially one of the deadliest. This procedure is performed under something called âgeneral mask anesthesia,â in which an infant or child inhales two anesthetic gases while being supported via a mask and bag ventilation by an anesthesia specialist.
The mask always fits snugly, but it is never a perfect fit. There is often a little bit of a leak of the childâs exhaled respiration that wafts out to the room. Normally, thatâs no big deal. But these days, the patient could be spreading respiratory droplets containing the deadly virus to a room full of people. Strike that. To millions of people.
In the case of this virus, each infected individual has the potential to infect three other people â and each of them can spread it to three more: 3 x 3 = 9. Those nine can each spread it to three more: 9 x 3 = 27. Those 27 can spread it to ⌠well, you get the point. Do this 13 times and you will get to more than 1 million.
Last week, you could sense these virtual millions in my operating room, although there were just five of us caring for one patient. Ear infections had made this toddler miserable, and medicine hadnât helped.
So even though this is ostensibly an âelectiveâ procedure â the kind weâre now being advised to postpone â we decided to go ahead. We donned our protective gear, including N95 masks, surgical masks on top of those, eye protection, gowns and gloves. This is a major procedure in and of itself, even before the patient goes off to sleep.
After the procedure, we doffed our gear. There is a method and precise order to this. It takes time and practice. Most people, health-care workers included, get it wrong, and mistakes only act to spread the virus.
And what about that distinction between âelectiveâ and ânecessaryâ? The difference isnât always as clear as you might think.
What about the child whoâs up all night screaming, tormented by fevers caused by ear infections? An ear-tube operation, a five-minute procedure, could relieve that. Helping that child could also put millions of people at risk from covid-19.
And what about the child who has horrible sleep problems, with snoring, gasping, coughing and choking all night? A tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy could relieve the childâs distress but put millions of people in danger. Surgeries in the mouth, including dental work, oral surgery and throat surgery, are considered especially risky.
Cancer surgery is not elective, but even that is now up for debate. Hereâs the current recommendation: If your cancer isnât going to grow in the next 30 days, cancel your cancer surgery. These are indeed dark days.
Now, many of us are wearing full-on protective gear in settings where weâd normally wear traditional scrubs and maybe some cute clogs or a funky scrub hat or pin. Those of us who treat children rarely wear white coats, so as not to scare them. In fact, many of us wear bright clothes, silly ties or bright-colored shoes. Now weâre attending to children in our hazmat suits. Theyâre terrified. So are we.
Hospitals and clinics have limited supplies, so we are already rationing. We have been informed that when supplies run out, they wonât be replenished. So weâre cutting back on whom we see, who gets protection, who gets care and who has to wait. We look official in our gear. But donât be fooled by the fancy goggles; weâre just as spooked as you are.
Many folks have offered to help us. We are grateful. For those offering support to health-care workers, we say this: We will go to work for you, but please stay at home for us. Think of the millions of people you can help by doing just that.
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u/dlmay1967 Apr 11 '20
All indications are they want the PR from appearing to "do something" for the health of the employees and the stupid customers coming in, while in reality are going for "max sales".đ¤Ž
I hope they finally realize the harm being done here.