AusTexS10
Well-Known Member
I prefer the Razor like my son rode when young.
Will you take the vaccine
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I resect your views and admire your travels.
"Harrys" for me, it comes in the mail.
The funny part as I did that riding, I would hear about problems getting rooms, food, the overcrowded emergency rooms, etc. Only getting food was even a slight problem, and easily solved. I didn't use any emergency rooms, but I purposely rode past several just to see the 'crowds'....not once did any look even busy, let alone crowded.
But then if the MSM said it is so then it MUST be so!
If I can get out of town between these storms you keep sending my way I'll be riding in Cal for the next two weeks.
thughes317
Well-Known Member
Roger that. I did a cross-country trip in both 2020 (Lincoln Highway) and 2021 (Route 66), same findings as you reported: no issues with booking rooms, no problems with getting food (other than staffing shortages and fast food joints being drive-thru only), only real issue being many of the attractions and tourist traps were closed due to the plague.The funny part as I did that riding, I would hear about problems getting rooms, food, the overcrowded emergency rooms, etc. Only getting food was even a slight problem, and easily solved. I didn't use any emergency rooms, but I purposely rode past several just to see the 'crowds'....not once did any look even busy, let alone crowded.
But then if the MSM said it is so then it MUST be so!
If I can get out of town between these storms you keep sending my way I'll be riding in Cal for the next two weeks.
Those hospitals may not have had crowded parking lots, but I can tell you the waits have been horrendous, the staff is massively short-handed, and they are burned out. Due to minor mishaps with an 89 year old, we unfortunately have had to go to the ER several times since the COVID thing started. Plus have been with the ex (nurse) and am friends with several others. The old lady fell and cut her scalp from hairline to the ear at 1:20 in the afternoon and other than periodic check-ins they couldn't even clean the bloody mess till more than 5 hours later. Even getting med appointments has been tough.
thughes317
Well-Known Member
I'm thinking that isn't/wasn't so much of an issue in the middle of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, etc.? (I did my best not to test that theory though....)
Oklahoma City man suffers heart attack in New Mexico, dies after failing to get ICU bed
An Oklahoma City native is sharing her story of trying to find an intensive care unit bed for her father. She said their family vacation quickly turned into their worst nightmare.
www.koco.com
I would guess the more rural/sparsely populated areas would be much more prone to the hospital system failing due to an influx of covid patients where larger health systems would be better able to cope. Here in Canada, the province of Saskatchewan (1m people) had to send some Covid patients to Ontario (14m people) because the hospital system couldn’t handle it.
WJBertrand
Ventura Highway
Our normal WeSTOC rally that was supposed to be in Park City UT in the summer of 2020 was canceled (like everything else) so instead of hiding, a group of us did a 4-state 4,000 mile tour through California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. Blue states like CA, NV, & CO had mask requirements and motel breakfast room and pool closures, while in UT everything seemed pretty much normal, no masks, no closures. Finding rooms was way easy due to most folks staying home and in UT the government had given motel/hotel owners incentives to lower their rates. We scored a couple of decent rooms for <$40! We stuck to the rural areas and routes and locals mostly only knew about Covid from the news as it had yet to reach those sparsely populated areas. We had a great time.
Rural Minnesota was hammered when COVID was peaking. The Health care model for rural America has been changing for the last couple of decades with the result that availability per capita is less than in the metro and patients are having to travel much further to access it.
Topic of much hand wringing around here but no one wants to tackle it.
I would expect similar problems elsewhere around the country
Topic of much hand wringing around here but no one wants to tackle it.
I would expect similar problems elsewhere around the country
How "rural" are you talking about. And I would think that's to be expected. A lot of our small, isolated towns don't have a hospital or family medicine because of low demand. Those towns will have at least an hour drive to an ER. I've seen a lot of "urgent cares" popping up in towns 10-20 minutes from large cities. They're great for about everything except a level one trauma, and keeps you from having to go to a full-blown ER. But they're still not real "rural".
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Sierra
how rural? Clinics and hospitals in towns of less than 5000 have been bought up and closed. The number of "beds" in very rural Minnesota are way down. Part of it is due to cost pressures from insurance, lack of medical personnel and decreasing populations. The groups buying up the clinics and hospitals have been channeling the "patients" to clinics and hospitals at further distances, sometimes well over an hour in good weather.
I apologize for the vagaries. Star Tribune did a multipart expose a couple of years ago and after some initial reaction the topic was pushed aside for other news and I would need to dig thru their back issues for more detail
The political and market challenge as I see it is these people do not have a loud voice with a lot of votes. In a similar case I wonder if Rural America would ever have been electrified if not for the Rural Electrification Act of 1936? Cable providers are certainly not in much of a hurry to serve those areas, for obvious reasons.
Some exceptions exist (Orange City, IA) but those places have been supported by very large home grown employers.
OK....I have moved off topic here....if we want to continue this direction we should likely move it to another thread.
TC
Wally
how rural? Clinics and hospitals in towns of less than 5000 have been bought up and closed. The number of "beds" in very rural Minnesota are way down. Part of it is due to cost pressures from insurance, lack of medical personnel and decreasing populations. The groups buying up the clinics and hospitals have been channeling the "patients" to clinics and hospitals at further distances, sometimes well over an hour in good weather.
I apologize for the vagaries. Star Tribune did a multipart expose a couple of years ago and after some initial reaction the topic was pushed aside for other news and I would need to dig thru their back issues for more detail
The political and market challenge as I see it is these people do not have a loud voice with a lot of votes. In a similar case I wonder if Rural America would ever have been electrified if not for the Rural Electrification Act of 1936? Cable providers are certainly not in much of a hurry to serve those areas, for obvious reasons.
Some exceptions exist (Orange City, IA) but those places have been supported by very large home grown employers.
OK....I have moved off topic here....if we want to continue this direction we should likely move it to another thread.
TC
Wally
Eville Rich
Well-Known Member
The issue of rural healthcare is ubiquitous across the upper Midwest. Northern Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Dakotas, Minnesota, all face the same issues of declining populations, consolidation of the industry and generally lower access to health care. I'm sure it's an issue elsewhere, too.
Evilly Rich
Evilly Rich
AusTexS10
Well-Known Member
It's like the Beatles' song, "Here, There and Everywhere." And even where available, the costs are crazy anymore.
Down here, towns that small never had them in the first place. As a matter of fact, the minor emergency locations have become the "go to" over E.R.s. Family practice doctors are booked up with regular patients which keeps them from being on call. I sliced my hand pretty good once. Went to Care Now, got 8 stiches, a shot of antibiotics, and out the door. One of the best features is if you have something happen, but is not urgent, you can go on line and set and appointment. They find out your travel time, and let you wait at your house instead of their waiting room. I don't know how they handled covid, but I'm sure they got their butts kicked like everywhere else.
So… the China bug got me and my wife. Wife already had it a few days and we can’t live apart far enough to avoid contaminating me. Just a cold until now, let’s see what the future looks like. At least I am getting some jobs done around the house now. But since being self employed nobody is paying me. Instead I’ll be moderating the hell out of this forum! That task has gotten easier since the invasion of Ukrain, most of Vlad his boys are gone. And that leaves more time to ride the SuperTénéré! Woohoo lucky me!
Take care guys
Take care guys
So . . . . the China Bug. Is that the one they're calling "Stealth Omicron"? What is the difference between the two?
Haven’t got a clue which one I’ve got. Results still need to come.
O crap another one?! Does it ever end… didn’t hear about that yet. So far all windows in the house cleaned, one car washed, parts ordered for its service. Being at home has advantages haha.
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