In some places, there are more ICU beds available, compared to regular flu seasons. This is the case in Ontario, Canada. See plot here, and references therein:
This data was not publicly available, and leaked while our provincial government were insisting that the ICU beds were overflowing (thus "justifying" their "enhanced restrictions"), and while there were videos coming out of empty hospitals. A week or two after the leak, they didn't address the lie, rather moved onto a new lie, namely, "the ICU beds aren't overflowing because people are staying home and dying there!"
Also in Ontario, there were scare stories by the MSM about how the hospitals are "overflowing" due to the flu, just prior to COVID coming into the public consciousness (i.e., March 2020 lockdowns):
The point of these scare stories regarding the flu were likely to try to justify expansions in the health system, and thus, a more powerful government.
It's not the biggest lever of power, but, those who control health care, control life.
In the extreme case, say, a fully communist country, this could be greatly abused.
At present, in Canada, two patients with similar conditions can go visit the same doctor, and that doctor can chose not to treat one the older one, while choosing to treat the younger one. I know of this happening personally with a family member and a friend of the family. The doctor deemed the older (elderly) patient to not be worth helping, given her age. The middle-aged woman received good treatment, with the doctor slipping in a comment about how it was important because she was younger (and him not being aware that she knew how he treated her older friend).
That's the kind of power I speak of. The doctor was directly responsible, but, the government was indirectly responsible for setting up & maintaining a system which would allow that.
Back when Canada socialized its healthcare system, many decades ago, doctors raised concerns that this would effectively make them government employees (and the potential consequences of that). Those doctors obviously did not get their way.
Friend in the Netherlands stated similar age-based treatment criteria 2-3 years ago. Said something along the lines of it being ok to oust an older patient (60+ or 65+) from hospital if a younger patient were to require the bed.
Seems "honor your elders" has been thrown out the window.
In some places, there are more ICU beds available, compared to regular flu seasons. This is the case in Ontario, Canada. See plot here, and references therein:
https://files.catbox.moe/rocsbt.pdf
This data was not publicly available, and leaked while our provincial government were insisting that the ICU beds were overflowing (thus "justifying" their "enhanced restrictions"), and while there were videos coming out of empty hospitals. A week or two after the leak, they didn't address the lie, rather moved onto a new lie, namely, "the ICU beds aren't overflowing because people are staying home and dying there!"
Also in Ontario, there were scare stories by the MSM about how the hospitals are "overflowing" due to the flu, just prior to COVID coming into the public consciousness (i.e., March 2020 lockdowns):
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-hospital-hallway-medicine-healthcare-beyond-capacity-1.5420434
https://archive.vn/wip/ipPNp
There's a similar story from TIME for the USA:
https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/
https://archive.vn/wip/GHL7I
The point of these scare stories regarding the flu were likely to try to justify expansions in the health system, and thus, a more powerful government.
It's not the biggest lever of power, but, those who control health care, control life.
In the extreme case, say, a fully communist country, this could be greatly abused.
At present, in Canada, two patients with similar conditions can go visit the same doctor, and that doctor can chose not to treat one the older one, while choosing to treat the younger one. I know of this happening personally with a family member and a friend of the family. The doctor deemed the older (elderly) patient to not be worth helping, given her age. The middle-aged woman received good treatment, with the doctor slipping in a comment about how it was important because she was younger (and him not being aware that she knew how he treated her older friend).
That's the kind of power I speak of. The doctor was directly responsible, but, the government was indirectly responsible for setting up & maintaining a system which would allow that.
Back when Canada socialized its healthcare system, many decades ago, doctors raised concerns that this would effectively make them government employees (and the potential consequences of that). Those doctors obviously did not get their way.
Friend in the Netherlands stated similar age-based treatment criteria 2-3 years ago. Said something along the lines of it being ok to oust an older patient (60+ or 65+) from hospital if a younger patient were to require the bed.
Seems "honor your elders" has been thrown out the window.