CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – Misconceptions about the pandemic have guided some residents’ choices. Nine months into the COVID-19 health crisis has left most people feeling exhausted, worried about the future, and mistrustful of various information sources.
“COVID-19 is real, it is not the flu, and it continues to pose the greatest threat New Mexico has ever faced,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham last week as the number of people requiring hospitalization surpassed 900, which means that more than 7,300 residents have needed hospitalization since March.
There are 3,884 staffed beds in hospitals statewide, according to American Hospital Directory officials. Cibola General Hospital, Grants, is a 25-bed general hospital and is equipped with a four-bed ICU department.
Job security and ‘unnecessary panic’
Many Americans believe the virus is real but are worried about job security and how to pay their bills. Another common concern is the inconsistency in handling shutdowns across the country; a growing number of people feel frustrated with the U.S. response to the worldwide pandemic.
Other Americans are convinced that the coronavirus is “no worse than a cold” or “another strain of the flu.” These folks feel that the overall reactions have resulted in unnecessary panic. Many in this group base their beliefs on false information, social media rumors, or the fact that they do not personally know anyone who has had COVID-19, so it cannot be that bad, according to usatoday.com, Dec. 4.
Incorrect interpretation of data
Case numbers have been inflated because of repeat testing. If someone gets tested seven days in a row and tests positive each time, they are all counted, according to some pandemic deniers.
No matter how many times an individual tests positive, the person will only be counted once in official numbers. All positive cases are reported to state health departments and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A person who tests positive is classified as a single case, even if the person tests positive multiple times, according to the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.
When someone tests positive and test results are negative a week or two later after the positive result, it means that the individual no longer has detectable levels of genetic material of the virus.
This does not mean it was a fake case. They were positive and shed the virus and detectable levels of the coronavirus disappeared.
Young people are not at risk
Another fallacy is the belief that most people who die of COVID-19 are older; younger people do not have to worry. The data shows that more than 50,000 people younger than age 64 have died, according to the Dec. 2 CDC report.
Older adults face greater risk for severe illness or death. However, others with underlying health conditions such as heart disease, cancer, obesity, or diabetes also face higher risk of sickness or death.
"While death rates are much lower among young adults, research shows they are not without risk. COVID-19 has surpassed opioid overdoses as the leading cause of death of adults ages 25 to 44,” according to a recent study by Harvard and Yale researchers.
Young people can be infected without showing symptoms (asymptomatic) and can pass the coronavirus on to more vulnerable populations.
‘Making money off COVID’
Medical billing services have fallen under suspicion recently. Hospitals do receive an add-on payment from Medicare to treat the growing number of COVID patients.
Hospitals have been accused of inflating COVID-19 death numbers to get more money.
Doctors are paid the same salary no matter how many patients they treat; physicians are the ones who ultimately certify the cause of death, not hospital administrators. The federal CARES Act, which included additional funding for hospitals, does not completely offset the loss of revenue hospitals have experienced. Hospitals have had to reschedule procedures or cancel surgeries in response to an increase in the number of COVID patients.
Comparing death rate to total population
Some people claim that the number of COVID-19 deaths is a small percentage compared to the total U.S. population. True, 270,000 dead people is not large number compared to the U.S. population of 330 million. But medical officials point to crisis situations like El Paso, Texas where portable morgues are now in use to handle the bodies of people who have died from COVID.
Living without worries of infection
Protect the vulnerable and let everyone else live life has been recommended as a “common sense solution.”
"Even if individuals are young and healthy and not overweight and not Black or Native American or part of another high-risk group, they are likely to come in close contact with someone who is vulnerable. Approximately 40 percent of the American population is obese, older than 65, or has a medical condition that predisposes them to be at higher risk for a serious COVID-19 infection,” according to health officials.
The future
Governor Lujan Grisham noted during a recent interview that hospitals in New Mexico will soon be allowed to move to “crisis standards,” which frees them to ration care depending on a patient’s likelihood of surviving, according to washingtonpost.com, Dec. 4.
The University of New Mexico hospitals reported that their ICU departments are nearing maximum capacity at its six facilities and that rooms that are normally single-occupancy are being used for two patients. Healthcare officials expect that the demand for beds will continue to grow.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease expert, emphasized that the current situation in the U.S. is an aberration and said, “People are flooding hospitals and dying at a rate that we have not seen with a disease of this type in 102 years.”