'Vigilante treatments': Anti-vaccine groups push people to leave ICUs

[Nevilledog]

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/vigilante-treatments-anti-vaccine-groups-push-people-leave-icus-rcna2233


Anti-vaccine Facebook groups have a new message for their community members: Don’t go to the emergency room, and get your loved ones out of intensive care units.

Consumed by conspiracy theories claiming that doctors are preventing unvaccinated patients from receiving miracle cures or are even killing them on purpose, some people in anti-vaccine and pro-ivermectin Facebook groups are telling those with Covid-19 to stay away from hospitals and instead try increasingly dangerous at-home treatments, according to posts seen by NBC News over the past few weeks.

The messages represent an escalation in the mistrust of medical professionals in groups that have sprung up in recent months on social media platforms, which have tried to crack down on Covid misinformation. And it’s something that some doctors say they’re seeing manifest in their hospitals as they have filled up because of the most recent delta variant wave.

“We were down to four Covid patients two months ago. In this surge, we’ve had 40 to 50 patients with Covid on four different ICU services, 97 percent of them unvaccinated,” said Wes Ely, an ICU doctor and professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “We were making headway, and now we’re just losing really, really badly. There’s something that’s happening on the internet, and it’s dramatically increasing steam.”

*snip*

[Elessar Zappa]

1. That's good news.

More beds open means other, non-COVID patients can receive better treatments.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

23. Cull the herd.

Let'em refuse the vaccine and demand a home brewed concoction they read about on the internet. Watch their spouse and children suffer emotionally and financially because of the anti-vaxxer's selfishness. And don't forget the cost of funerals -- I imagine cemeteries are filling up. Location, location, location.

I bet there's a market for a new dating app for widows and widowers of anti-vaxxer significant others. "Vaccinated female, blonde, 29, two kids, newly single, seeks vaccinated male. Must show proof of vaccination and booster. Fox News viewers need not apply."

[Ocelot II]

2. Maybe all we have to do is hunker down a little longer with our vaccines and our masks

and our social distancing, and the situation will take care of itself...

[NCjack]

4. +1.

[Ohio Joe]

3. Good - nt

[Leghorn21]

5. "try increasingly dangerous at-home treatments"?

OH HELL YEAH

[NCjack]

6. The anti-vaxxers should open the "Gimme that ol' fashion religious hospital."

[Crunchy Frog]

7. For once I wholeheartedly agree with them.

Unvaxxed shouldn't be taking up hospital space and resources.

[Raftergirl]

8. I'm all in favor of them not going to the hospital.

They will die quicker, too.

[Solly Mack]

9. Damn, that's tragic. It really is. Sad and repulsive all at the same time.

Their stubborn and willful ignorance isn't just killing them though. They are a danger to others.

[Nevilledog]

15. Everything I read about what's happening with the hospitals makes me think of you.

What if you hadn't been able to get treatment?

I'm so glad you did.

[Solly Mack]

16. I read these stories and think about how lucky I was but it should never have been

about luck/chance. Which most likely meant the chance that someone would die quick enough to get me a bed.

I do believe that is what happened for me.

And all because they have made the choice to embrace fear and ignorance.

No matter what they say, they are ate up with fear.

[Walleye]

10. How do you function if you don't trust the doctors to take care of your health?

Doctors want to get you well and keep you healthy that’s their only agenda.Who do they want to take their health advice from? Steve Bannon?

[2naSalit]

11. Next level Jonestown.

[temporary311]

22. Yeah, with Jonestown

a lot of people had to be forced at gun point. These folks only need Facebook to push em over the edge.

[zuul]

12. Okay.

[NH Ethylene]

13. It's better than having relatives pushing hospitals to allow other treatments.

If they prefer ivermectin, let them stay home and take it.

[tulipsandroses]

14. Shame on the republicans for getting in bed with these nuts for political power

I feel bad for the minors in these families who don’t get to make their own decisions. Greed has led us here. Had it not been for craven politicians, these loons would have just been weirdos like those that have been talking about lizard people for years. But just like politicians got in bed with the evangelicals and emboldened them, we are seeing them do it again with these nutty folks. I do fear what these people are capable of. I don’t put it past them to cause harm to doctors or healthcare workers. We’ve seen that with abortion providers.

[lindysalsagal]

17. Thoughts and prayers.

Go home and die needlessly. I'm all out of fucks to give.

[LiberatedUSA]

18. By all means, free up the needed space! N/t

[TygrBright]

19. It's a murder/suicide cult. NOT a joke, not hyperbole. That's what it is. n/t

[The Mouth]

20. Clean that gene pool!

Hell, I'll help 'em pack (vaxxed *and* had what was probably Covid very very early in 2020).

[Grins]

21. About time they lived up to their beliefs...

First time I have ever agreed with the delusional Reich.
“Be strong, Patriots!”

[maxsolomon]

24. Where to these Antivaxxers find the time?

Jesus, get a job.

[Tarc]

25. Red graves make blue waves

Fine by me if the antivax loony tunes clear out and leave the ICU beds for deserving patients.

[live love laugh]

26. Yayyyy 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼