(Image via Getty)
Jeremy — you remember him — is now a fellow in pediatric intensive care medicine. He tells me that, in his little spare time, he screams at the televised news programs showing crowded airports: “You fools! You’re doing this today, and we’re going to be treating you or your relatives in less than a month!”
Some hospitals are already overwhelmed. Other hospitals are starting to send patients from overflowing adult intensive care units to pediatric intensive care units. The patients don’t exactly belong there, but it’s better than leaving patients out in the hallways.
LexisNexis Practical Guidance Rolls Out Dedicated Practice Area for AI & Technology
The new generation of AI-related legal issues are inherently cross-disciplinary, implicating corporate law, intellectual property, data privacy, employment, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
Hospitals are sending around memos: “We are currently able to handle the demand. In roughly three weeks, however, the projections suggest that we’ll no longer be able to handle the patients.” The memos go on to talk about contingency plans.
I’ve spoken to other folks who have a right to know, and they tell me that the Ides of January — January 15 (technically, January 13) — is when the peak COVID-19 problem will hit. People will be idiots over the Christmas holidays, spreading the virus widely. That will coincide with the flu season. Two weeks after Christmas, people will be hospitalized. Three weeks after Christmas — the Ides of January — we’ll start to see the deaths. From January 15 through February 15, the number of hospitalizations and deaths will be remarkably high, and you’ll see hospitals creak under the strain.
Some projections suggest 4,000 deaths per day in the United States, or one person dying every 30 seconds.
Merry Christmas, indeed.
Legal Is Changing. And NeoSummit Is Where The Future Is Being Built.
Legal and operational leaders are gathering May 6–7 in Fort Lauderdale to confront the questions the industry hasn't answered—with a keynote from Amanda Knox setting the tone.
Why are you reading this here, you might ask, when you haven’t heard this information from actual health experts? Because I’m irresponsible: Things can change. We might have massive lockdowns, or more people might start wearing masks, in the next few weeks; that would slow the spread of the virus. The number of hospitalizations and deaths might be so astronomical in late December that fewer people will travel over the Christmas holidays; that would slow the spread of the virus. I suspect that, given the political environment, we won’t see masks or lockdowns and, given people’s stupidity, the rising number of deaths later this months won’t deter anyone. But it could happen. If it does, I will, delightfully, be proven wrong.
Several weeks ago — before the recent vaccine news — a few friends of mine got into a Zoom debate. On the one hand, if the pandemic was going to last for another five years, you might as well start traveling and going to restaurants. Sure, you would increase your chance of getting the disease, but COVID-19 has only a one percent fatality rate, and you can’t put your life on hold forever.
Other people argued for hunkering down.
But now, a vaccine is on the horizon. The war will soon end.
Imagine yourself traveling back in time. You’re on the battlefield on the morning of November 11, 1918. A truce will be called at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Does it make sense to die in combat on the morning of November 11?
Don’t kill yourself, or a friend, or grandma between now and the Ides of January. Don’t be the last, useless battlefield death.
Be safe. Be smart.
And let Jeremy stop yelling at the TV.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at [email protected].