Hospitals Over Capacity and Mobile Morgues Fill Up
Texas state is fighting the move but County Judge Ricardo Samaniego says he’s now planning on Extending El Paso’s Shutdown Order unless the county’s hospitals can recover in the next several days.
“The potential is really what causes me to insist on that Stay at Home order,” Judge Samaniego said.
Last weekend, El Paso County set up its third and fourth mobile morgue units as COVID-19 patients were dying faster than the county could investigate them, leading to a backlog of 85 bodies.
Samaniego said El Paso County would soon have ten mobile morgues set up to handle the spike in COVID-19 deaths, which the judge said was showing no sign of slowing down.
“It doesn’t look good,” Judge Samaniego said. “It may be as much as 20 per day the next two to three weeks. There might be more and more an incline of deaths.”
10 days ago, the county judge issued a two-week shutdown and Stay at Home order for El Paso aimed at easing the burden on area hospitals, which were over 100% capacity.
The state of Texas is fighting the shutdown order in the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals, but until the court rules otherwise, the county judge’s shutdown will be allowed to continue.
Didn’t Trump promise this story would go away after the election?
Guess what.
In case you need a refresher, please consider Covid Timeline: What Did Trump Say and When?
This election was Trump’s to win. All he needed to do was make a genuine attempt at appealing to anyone but his base.
But that is like asking asking a fish to read a book.
Questions of the Day
What about deaths, hospitalizations, and mobile morgues? https://t.co/3HOysaGoDI
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) November 9, 2020
Uphill Battle
Unfortunately, Trump so poisoned the political atmosphere surrounding Covid that we have to deal with delusional nonsense.
Biden’s faces an uphill battle but he got a bit of help from Utah governor Gary Herbert who declared a state of emergency on Sunday. Herbert mandated masks and placed significant restriction on gatherings.
For details, please see Utah Governor Mandates Masks and Restricts Gatherings
Mish
“Wanted : Truck driver to shuttle trailers of dead bodies – full time position”
so sorry mishy, but biden is NOT president elect
until then quit being PART OF THE PROBLEM
we get you HATE Trump
I agree that this election was Trumps to take. I will say, the fact that he barely lost is also a telling sign for Democrats. If there was a candidate who wasn’t as hated by the left, as Hillary is to the right, this would have been an easy victory in my opinion. I will also add that both polling and election results could be correct. While polling certainly has its flaws, it has been unusually wrong during the last two presidential cycles. The difference could possibly be the “shy” vote. Certainly something to analyze once we have closed the books on this complicated year
Its a telling sign not just for Democrats, but for everyone that voted third party or sat the election out. What did all of those that voted Jorgensen accomplish? Nothing except risking keeping Trump in for another four years.
If you try to pick the lesser of two evils, you are always voting for evil. What I want is to see the day when the Libertarian candidate is included in the debates, and the only way that will ever happen is if they get votes.
How does a county judge get the power to shut down El Paso? The story doesn’t make it clear. Many judges legislate from the bench, but this judge seems to be assuming the power of the executive branch.
County judges in Texas are essentially “mayors” of the county government. They preside over what is known as the County Commissioners Court, which is similar to a city council, with four elected Commissioners.
Thanks PNO and Eddie for the clarification
wait … WTF jus’ happened ? did you guys just have an amicable civil AND informative discussion ?!!! on the internet ?
shocked.
no more bullshit from “National Interest”
Anyone doubting endless wars has much for brains
Re: Pfizer vaccine
Eric Feigl-Ding
@DrEricDing @IvankaTrump , it’s exciting but you need to kinda mention it’s only the results from only the first 7 days. Pfizer vaccine needs a later booster shot too. So 7 days isn’t nearly enough data. We need longer trial data on #COVID19 efficacy & safety. Simmer down now.
So, ummm…
Eric Feigl-Ding is one of the least credible sources. He is a nutritionist and has no experience nor knowledge of epidemiology or vaccines. The real specialists, those who actually work in the field, have been warning about him. He is using the epidemic to boost his media presence and become an “influencer”. He is just a bullshitter.
El Paso not the fattest city in America, but is most diabetic, rankings show
link to elpasotimes.com
Perhaps someone can answer this. Are morgues managed for just-in-time like many hospitals? What is the normal surge capacity for your average morgue in a county of about a million? Has El Paso resorted to mobile morgues before and if so under what conditions?
If El Paso is getting 20 covid deaths per day then that’s double the normal number.
Twenty deaths from covid? How many normal deaths? I am trying to see El Paso’s surge capacity. Thanks
THat’s what I meant, based on 2.8 million non covid deaths in USA per year, El Paso’s share would be 20/day. So if they are getting 20 on top of that from covid then it’s a double, which is obviously very significant.
From New York, this spring, in-hospital body-storage areas are small, and everyone in the death industry is overwhelmed and working slower due to safety precautions and missing personnel…
….In the past few days, the city’s medical examiner’s office has taken over the collection of bodies, dispatching the fleet of new refrigerated trailers to hospitals in all five boroughs, some of whose morgues have already filled up. Funeral homes are becoming backed up. And, running on smaller staffs, cemeteries and crematories are scrambling to keep up with demand.
“It’s taking longer for the bodies to be released and for the bodies to be transferred,” said Patrick J. Kearns, a fourth-generation funeral director who operates three funeral homes in Queens and one on Long Island. “When you overwhelm the health system, you also overwhelm the death system.”
So far, officials say, the longstanding system for picking up and disposing of bodies in New York has not completely broken down; the city is not at an immediate risk for a secondary health crisis with corpses stacked in churches or lying in the streets, as has been the case in some Italian cities.
But at every step of the process — from hospitals to funeral homes to city-run morgues — people are feeling the strain of the sharp increase in deaths and acknowledge that it is only a prelude of the flood that is sure to come.
On an average day, 158 people die in New York City from every imaginable cause. But with at least that number dying daily from the coronavirus alone — and with dire predictions that as many as 16,000 people could ultimately perish — the usual method of funeral homes collecting bodies from hospitals and working with families to bury or dispose of them is being severely tested.
“Most of these hospitals’ morgues only have room for eight to 12 bodies,” said Joe Aievoli, who owns six funeral homes in Brooklyn and Manhattan. “Now, they’ve been inundated with 30, 40, 50 deaths within a short period of time. They just don’t have the capacity to store.”…
For comparison NYC 8.3 million, El Paso under 700K
Thanks.
Pence claims success in operation Warp Speed…
HUGE NEWS: Thanks to the public-private partnership forged by President@realDonaldTrump , @pfizer announced its Coronavirus Vaccine trial is EFFECTIVE, preventing infection in 90% of its volunteers.
But Pfizer said they never were a part of “Warp Speed”
Dr Kathrin Jansen, Pfizer’s head of vaccine development, told the New York Times: “We were never part of the Warp Speed … We have never taken any money from the U.S. government, or from anyone.”
Operation Warp Speed is a $12 billion government programme, begun in May, to get a vaccine to 300 million Americans.
Pfizer, which developed the vaccine with the German drugmaker BioNTech, did not provide full details from its clinical trial, but experts have hailed it as a significant breakthrough.
Equally significant is the fact that the US-based company – unlike other vaccine front-runners – refused to take government money for research and development, in a bid to preserve their independence.
She said she learned of the results from the outside panel of experts shortly after 1pm on Sunday, and that the timing was not influenced by the election.
“We have always said that science is driving how we conduct ourselves — no politics,” she said.
Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, on 1 October wrote an open letter to his US colleagues lamenting the fact that a vaccine was being “discussed in political terms rather than scientific facts”, and saying he had been left “disappointed” by the weaponisation of public health.
“The amplified political rhetoric around vaccine development, timing and political credit is undercutting public confidence,” he warned.
“We would never succumb to political pressure. The only pressure we feel — and it weighs heavy — are the billions of people, millions of businesses and hundreds of government officials that are depending on us.
“We’ve engaged with many elected leaders around the globe through this health crisis, but Pfizer took no investment money from any government. Our independence is a precious asset.”
In September he had made the same point, saying: “I wanted to liberate our scientists from any bureaucracy. When you get money from someone, that always comes with strings.”
This article dates from July 22, 2020.
No it doesn’t. It is from 34 minutes ago as of 8.48am PST in the US.
The article I posted “Pfizer, BioNTech Win $1.95B “Warp Speed” Order for COVID-19 Vaccine ” is dated July 22, 2020.
Check the date under the title.
Trump wrongly taking credit for other people’s work? Things are really back to normal quickly.
More lies from Whitey Pence.
They just can’t stop lying and their brain dead zombie cult members go right on believing the lies.
10 trailers equals 560 bodies
That’s quite a site.
Somebody has to do it. Too bad it’s private. All their competitors are private too. When this thing started I looked for companies to buy.
Hmm… so its a hoax, but the global conspiracy continues. What can it mean? The world is conspiring against trump’s 2024 run?
Hopefully the shutdown will help them to get it under control & now there’s a credible vaccine we can all look foreword to life without Covid.
Not so certain about the vaccine. I don’t think too many people have investigated what an “effective” vaccine means. See
Apparently an effective Covid vaccine will be like an effective flu vaccine, if/when you do catch the disease the symptoms won’t be as bad. It isn’t like a polio vaccine where you don’t get the disease.
I was just going by today’s reports on the BBC, sounds very positive to me.
So, according to that article, Pfizer’s announcement today is based on the first 32 people in the trial?
Anyone who knows anything about data understands that 0.08% of trial enrollees represents a meaningless sample size. Let’s hope it extrapolates better than any of the other early COVID vaccine candidates thus far.
The Forbes article says Pfizer planned to announce preliminary results after 32 patients. The BBC article talks about thousands having been given the vaccine. I’m really unclear what is going on here, and how meaningful the “90% effective” is.
Forbes article is dated September, BBC is today, it’s been tested on on 43,500 people so far.
My guess on the 90% effective bit is that it’s not so effective on the very elderly that are already very vulnerable with other medical problems.
And nobody, especially Pfizer, has any idea exactly how long this “90 immunity” lasts….because it hasn’t been long enough to know.
90% immunity that lasts one month is not a win.
Still, I will line up to get it when it is available. We shall see how it works.
BJ holding a press conference at 1700 GMT so maybe we’ll learn a bit more.
BJ said it still has to undergo peer reviews and some safety checks.
The scientific medical officer said its a very important breakthrough. However the government need to see the safety data understand it. He’s hopeful, but not certain we’d see some vaccine by Christmas. He also said it’s good news for other vaccines that are being developed because they target the same protein. It probably won’t help this second wave but will hopefully help future waves.
Mish, this is a perfect business opportunity for Bezos to have his Amazon trucks backhaul the corpses all the way through the supply chain back to China.