AMI’s & STEMI’s


For those not attuned to the heart jargon, AMIs and STEMIs are types of heart attacks.

STEMIs around the world have decreased – in San Diego there has been a 30-40% decrease. In some cities, centers are reporting up to 50% decrease.

Different theories abound. For instance:

While the stress of COVID and unemployment is high there is this paradox and the population at large might have less stress ?

Whereas in San Diego there have been many patients who come in with a delayed presentation MI. Having symptoms for days and then come in with CHF or shock.

The following is from the Colorado Sun on 8 17/20:

Dr. Brian Stauffer, the head of cardiology at Denver Health, soon began to notice a different kind of pandemic mystery.

People, it seemed, had stopped having heart attacks.

Stauffer and his colleagues found that the number of people in Denver who died of cardiac arrests at home in the two weeks following the statewide stay-at-home order was greater than the total number of people who died of COVID-19 in the city during that time.

Colorado, like many other states, has seen a rise in deaths during the time of COVID-19 that is above and beyond what can be explained just by documented deaths due to the virus or by population growth. April, for instance, was likely the deadliest month in Colorado history. While coronavirus has killed more than 1,700 people in Colorado this year, deaths due to cancer, heart disease and drug overdose are also on the rise.

In many parts of the world doctors are pointing to a very real probability that lockdown orders are leading to people dying from other serious maladies as a result of avoiding hospitals. Heart attacks in particular are now looked at as a cause of death greater than the coronavirus itself.

From ‘tctMD/ the heart beat’( an international cardiac journal) in April, 2020:

“From Milan to Madrid to Massachusetts, everyone is asking: as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, where have all the STEMIs gone.”

“In Milan, Italy, one hospital reports STEMI cases (heart attacks) plunged by 70 percent. In Spain, the drop has been 40 percent, with estimates in Madrid being as high as an 80 percent drop in cases. At one hospital in Madrid they are averaging three-to-four heart cases a week, when those are usually their daily admission rates. This regards only heart condition cases, with one doctor stating they are barely seeing any admissions for other serious conditions. A cardiologist in Boston detailed that he went a week without seeing a single heart case come in, something he has never experienced prior in 13 years of attending.”

Is this another example of another one of the “unforeseen consequences” of something that no one has had any experience with in the past. Here I am referring to lockdowns. “Let’s lockdown everybody and create a sense of general panic … oops, people aren’t coming to the hospital and are dying at home. Oh well!” 

 Ark you words: These heart issues are just the tip of the unforeseen-consequences-of-lockdowns iceberg. A rational society locks down those who are at risk, but  Dr. Fauci apparently thinks that  it is a good idea to lock down everybody so that the curve can be flattened. While I am sure that the esteemed Dr. Fauci is aware of the ancillary damage that his policies are causing, I have to hear him comment on this.

“Earth to Dr. Fauci . . . Come in, please!”

8/25/20

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