Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Because many hospitals are being stretched to the brink right now. Which would not be the case if most people were vaccinated. But that ship has sailed, so we have to deal with it. Luckily, this recent wave may be on the downslope and will have naturally immunized quite a few people so that maybe the next wave will be more minor.


They were also stretched to the brink under the big flu seasons of the past.

But back then we didn't have many tests, which meant hospital personnel would work even when they were a little sick.

Not having those people around, means that capacity has to be increased, which is very hard when almost everybody gets infected with Omicron.


I don't think flu has ever stretched this many hospitals this badly for so long. Flu is more seasonal and more regional in scope. Assuming COVID hospitalizations follow the same curve as COVID deaths (hospitalizations curve is actually steeper) then we are looking at an order of magnitude worse situation than flu.

In other words, for the 100th time, COVID ain't the flu.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: