Weird Times

One of the weird things about the whole COVID -19 thing is how conspiracies theories can build.

There is one going around about how the pandemic cannot be all that bad because the hospitals are half empty.

But.

The hospitals are half empty because anyone with a compromised immune system, is over weight, over 60, has asthma or diabetes are doing their best to avoid all hospitals and leaving or staying away, and putting off elective surgeries.

In Canada, this does not mean much because our health system is not profit driven.

In the USA, it means that the hospitals are not showing a profit, and indeed are operating at a loss because they need to fill the beds to make as much money as possible.  There are many places that will have to lay off doctors soon because they have no work for them.

It may seem strange, but it is a direct consequence of letting your health are be driven by profit.

And to the companies that have long demanded huge profits from health care, now that there is a shortage of patients and your profit has turned negative, too bad.  This is the system you asked for, you have to take the problems along with the benefits.