Insider's report from Italy

[Pluvious]

Given Italy has a head start on this mess, imo worth knowing how they're coping.

From a well respected friend and intensivist/A&E consultant who is currently in northern Italy:

1/ ‘I feel the pressure to give you a quick personal update about what is happening in Italy, and also give some quick direct advice about what you should do.

2/ First, Lumbardy is the most developed region in Italy and it has a extraordinary good healthcare, I have worked in Italy, UK and Aus and don’t make the mistake to think that what is happening is happening in a 3rd world country.

3/ The current situation is difficult to imagine and numbers do not explain things at all. Our hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid-19, they are running 200% capacity

4/ We’ve stopped all routine, all ORs have been converted to ITUs and they are now diverting or not treating all other emergencies like trauma or strokes. There are hundreds of pts with severe resp failure and many of them do not have access to anything above a reservoir mask.

( more )

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1237142891077697538.html

Original tweet:

Link to tweet

[empedocles]

1. Thank you. Something to ponder.

[FightingIrish]

2. This really got my attention.

"5/ Patients above 65 or younger with comorbidities are not even assessed by ITU, I am not saying not tubed, I’m saying not assessed and no ITU staff attends when they arrest. "

Tell me how tax cuts are going to save us from this.

[CaptainTruth]

3. I'm not sure how to take this. A real "insider" should know how to spell Lombardy.

"First, Lumbardy is the most developed region in Italy and it has a extraordinary good healthcare"

Or in Italian, Lombardia.

Plus, my wife has been on the phone daily to our family & friends throughout Lombardy & they report nothing of the sort of things described in this person's tweets.

To me it reads as an attempt at scaremongering from someone pretending to know.

[Pluvious]

5. FWIW - This same anecdotal report was included in WP article (see links)

The tweet was in this WP story.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/03/10/why-coronavirus-response-seems-so-outsized/

Also references the NYT story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/world/europe/coronavirus-italy-elderly.html

[SDANation]

4. I find it hard to believe

That physicians and staff would be so callous at this point to not treat traumas or stroke? Like WTF? That’s not triage, that’s medical malpractice and ethically against everything healthcare workers vow to uphold. Like, “I’m sorry 20 year old in a car accident with broken bones and severed arteries, we aren’t gonna try to save you cause we are only treating covid patients... nah don’t believe it.

[Pluvious]

6. FWIW - This same anecdotal report was included in WP article (see links)

The tweet was in this WP story.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/03/10/why-coronavirus-response-seems-so-outsized/

Also references the NYT story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/world/europe/coronavirus-italy-elderly.html