Tulsa ER Physician on Trump Rally: "My Oath is to Do No Harm, And to Sit Silently...."

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

Tulsa ER Physician on Trump Rally: “My Oath is to Do No Harm, And to Sit Silently on This Matter Feels Wrong”

In an editorial for Tulsa World, Dr. Samantha Whiteside, an emergency physician shared her “great concerns about the ramifications of the planned campaign rally for President Donald Trump on Saturday.”

“COVID-19 cases in Tulsa County have risen sharply the past week. In the past seven days, the number of new cases in Tulsa County has reached an all-time high four times,” Dr. Whiteside writes. She goes on to cite Dr. Bruce Dart, the city’s health department director, who reported earlier this week “that the positive rate by our Health Department has spiked to 15%, suggesting the increase in positive cases is not solely due to increased testing.”

To read more:

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/06/18/tulsa-er-physician-on-trump-rally-my-oath-is-to-do-no-harm-and-to-sit-silently-on-this-matter-feels-wrong.html

[coti]

1. What is this "due to increased testing" dismissal anyway?

If we didn't know, before, that there were cases around that we're aware of now, that realization that there are way more cases than we thought is BAD.

[guillaumeb]

2. It is not a dismissal.

The quote, “that the positive rate by our Health Department has spiked to 15%, suggesting the increase in positive cases is not solely due to increased testing.”, suggests that the medical professionals are aware that testing is revealing that the problem is more serious than many think.

[coti]

3. No, I'm talking about separately from this article.

People keep writing off the increased number of cases as if it's meaningless because they can say it results from increased testing. I'm saying that the fact of increased testing is irrelevant- the raw numbers of increased cases matter however they came about because we weren't aware of that prevalence of the virus before.

[guillaumeb]

6. I agree.

I understand the need of some to think that testing is meaningless, but ignoring evidence does not change the underlying reality.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. +1

Here in Illinois, as you know, testing skyrocketed so cases kept rising in big numbers.
But, week over week, the positivity rate kept falling.
It's probably a leading indicator of hospitalizations, ICU occupancy, and deaths.
That falling rate is why Pritzker & Nzike triggered Phase 3.

[coti]

5. The increase in raw positives matters, more testing or no.

They're cases we weren't aware of and therefore couldn't factor into our understanding before. It's new information.

Yes, the "positivity rate" matters, but just how many people are infected in any given community does also.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Tautology

The # means nothing upon which to take action if the denominator keeps changing.
Not only does rate matter, it's all that matters.
Test 10,000. 6% rate. 600 cases
Test 30,000. 3% rate. 900 cases.
You're going to react because the caseload went up 50% relative?
That's bad science.

[coti]

9. Test positivity increases and decreases based on how much/liberally testing is being done, as

you already know. That rate doesn't indicate nearly as much about the population as it does the standards by which tests are being administered.

What matters is raw positive numbers vs. population- i.e., per capita infection rates (that we know of- and finding higher levels of % population infected via "increased testing" is critical info).

[ProfessorGAC]

10. We Could Not Disagree More

In Illinois, the same labs administered the testing.
That was a constant not a variable.
I'll go out on a limb and say the vast majority of states are in the same situation.
You're reaching for reasons data without context means something.
My experience in the sciences, is that context free data is almost never useful.

[NotHardly]

12. Exactly. Lower testing numbers with higher instances of positives are equally possible w/o context

...being part of the explanation. Misleading at best which, I believe, is exactly the intention.

[guillaumeb]

7. But some Trump voters prefer to believe Trump's comforting lies.

Insane? Of course.

[mwb970]

11. Let them die. I don't give a damn any more.

Last edited Fri Jun 19, 2020, 08:33 PM - Edit history (1)

[NotHardly]

14. No one has ever been able to stop a Leaping Lemmings from doing what comes natural.

Fact Based:
Lemmings have become the subject of a widely popular misconception that they are driven to commit mass suicide when they migrate by jumping off cliffs. It is not a deliberate mass suicide where the animal voluntarily chooses to die, but rather a result of their migratory behavior. Driven by strong biological urges, some species of lemmings may migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemming)

THIS Driven by strong biological urges, some species of lemmings may migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great.

So, I can only conclude that our density of stupid, racist, and hate filled people has become too extreme and Trump Lemmings heeding the call of their natural biological urges will leap while holding tightly to their blind faith and complete the task Trump asks of them... their sacrifice to his narcissistic and petty indulgences.

So, yeah, a natural solution that cannot be stopped.

[mwb970]

16. That is a very interesting post.

I think you may be onto something!

[Javaman]

13. Tell the mouth breathers watching this shit

Tomorrow that the can contract the virus through their tv airwaves. 😂

[not_the_one]

15. My mind read "My Oath is to Do No Harm, And to Sit Silently....while they kill themselves."

But I am one sick puppy...

It is known as the SPS (sick puppy syndrome).

I have come to accept, even appreciate, that little "quirk".

[guillaumeb]

17. Bad dog!!

SPS sounds like an idea in search of funding.