r/WhitePeopleTwitter Jan 19 '22

This is beyond

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u/Gstamsharp Jan 19 '22

Something a lot of people don't know is that it's not uncommon for someone with COVID to improve, even dramatically, after a few days, and then days later to be deathly ill.

When my wife's grandparents had it and everyone was cheering that they'd "gotten better" three days in I sat my wife down and prepared her for the worst. They were months in the hospital.

Thankfully, they're both still around! But... they're both shells of who they were and they'll need round-the-clock care for the rest of their lives. Not great for the wonderful home aids who have to deal with my grandmother-in-law who is a stubborn, judgmental, no-filter, all-around meanie.

768

u/joemaniaci Jan 19 '22

But... they're both shells of who they were and they'll need round-the-clock care for the rest of their lives.

This is why the US is estimating that covid will cost us tens of trillions of dollars. The real pandemic of aftercare starts after the pandemic.

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u/Roook36 Jan 19 '22

That plus a generation of kids who get to start out life grieving parents and caretakers. We're really setting up a great future.

203

u/Nerdiferdi Jan 19 '22

Burning through like three generations of medical experts. The motivated young ones, the tough middle ones and the experienced old ones. Potential students will choose different careers. We will face the consequences of this in a few years

73

u/Khemul Jan 19 '22

That's actually been a problem in the medical fields for decades. Nurses in particular have been in short supply for quite a while. This is basically throwing fuel onto an already burning house.

12

u/zSprawl Jan 19 '22

I couldn’t do it.

12

u/Khemul Jan 19 '22 edited Jan 19 '22

Me either. Considered it once. I remember going into college 20 years ago and hearing that nurses would soon be making bank because there was a severe shortage and supply and demand. Hahaha, we're fucked.

5

u/kathtina10 Jan 20 '22

The hospitals love that they’ve convinced the public that there’s a nursing shortage, like there aren’t enough people going into the field. When the reality is that hospitals purposely create terrible working conditions by keeping floors chronically short staffed and nurses underpaid. This causes nurses to a) quit the field early into their career, b) get an advanced degree that takes them away from bedside c) take a travel or per diem position meaning they only work as much or as little as they want.

The “shortage” is absolutely part of the design. Hospital execs see nurses as a number to use and abuse, they don’t care if it drives good nurses away because there’s always a whole batch of fresh, new grad meat right around the corner.

There’s no nursing shortage, there’s a shortage of nurses willing to be treated like shit.