From Newsday about Long Island NY…..
As the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations on Long Island continues to rise, doctors and nurses see one bright spot: The patients they’re treating today are more likely to survive than the ones they cared for during the spring coronavirus surge.
Improved treatments, a better understanding of the disease and months of experience caring for COVID-19 patients has led to the decline in death rates, doctors said.
“It’s definitely less frustrating and it’s less scary now,” said Dr. Sahar Ahmad, a critical and pulmonary care specialist and director of critical care and ultrasound education at Stony Brook Medicine.
Dr. David Battinelli, chief medical officer at New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health, said that, unlike in March and April, “We know the natural history of the disease. We know how to treat the patients because we know what to expect. That will always make care better.”
A New York University study of patients at the three NYU Langone hospitals, including NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island in Mineola, found a dramatic increase in survival for COVID-19 patients.
The study of 5,121 hospitalizations, published Oct. 23 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, found that mortality dropped from 25.6% in March to 7.6% in August, even when adjusted for age and other characteristics.
Researchers can’t be sure which factors were most important, said Dr. Leora Horwitz, lead author of the study and director of NYU Langone’s Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science. But experience was key.
Update….
People traveled for Thanksgiving….
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said on Sunday that there will “almost certainly” be an uptick in coronavirus cases after Americans traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday despite public health officials’ warnings.
“The travel that has been done has been done,” said Fauci on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Having said that, we have to be careful now because there almost certainly is going to be an uptick because of what has happened with the travel,” Fauci said. “We understand the importance of families getting together. And it’s just something that we have to deal with that we likely will have an increase in cases, as we get into the colder weeks of the winter, and as we approach the Christmas season.”…