Should I Fear Hospitals During A Pandemic?

Something new to think about is the idea that it might actually be scary to go to a hospital right now, for any reason. Take the idea further and imagine if there was no such thing as a hospital. Or what if hospitals did exist, but they were dangerous places?

Times are unusual, for sure. What do you do if you get hurt and hospitalization is recommended? Do you try to manage at home? Or do you go to a hospital? Is there even space for you in a hospital? And what are the chances of you getting the coronavirus while you are on your way? Or when you’re there? Would getting the virus put you in a worse condition than you are with your injury? These are not fun questions to even ask or think about, but they are valid, are they not? And shouldn’t you at least have an idea of what you think you would do?

It doesn’t feel right, that a hospital can possibly do you more harm than good if you don’t have COVID-19, but that’s what seems to be the case for the most part. Unless something happened to you and you’re in critical condition ready to be taken to the ER immediately and treated, that’s another story. A hospital might be one of your top chances for survival if surgery is looking to be done. But even that, if an emergency did happen and you needed assistance immediately, what are the chances of you getting treated immediately in a hospital full of COVID-19 patients that is over capacity? This is just scary to even think about.

One idea could be to have two different types of hospitals. One for patients who have a deadly contagious disease, another for those who do not have a disease, instead maybe an injury or seek for emergency care, surgery. This idea might be difficult to achieve because of space, staff, and supply and demand. Right now there is a very high demand for treatment of those who have the coronavirus, but how often does something like a coronavirus pandemic at this scale come about? The balance can be really tough.

But furthermore the idea of preparedness is maybe what we should be looking at. How many hospitals are there in each place in the world? What is their capacity? Should there be more hospitals than anything else? Again, yes the demand might be low for a long time, but the readiness may be there constantly, and a peace of mind too.