The story of an American family taken out by Covid

[nightsafari]

'Family Is Just Not Replaceable': How COVID-19 Ravaged One Family in LA's Koreatown
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Hannah Haein Kim
May 30

Hannah Hein Kim with her brother Joseph Jaein Kim, grandmother Soon Sun Kim, and father Chul Jik Kim. (Courtesy of Hannah Haein Kim)


22-year old Hannah Haein Kim is a student at Cal State LA. She lives with her parents and 17-year old brother in LA's Koreatown. On April 14, her grandmother moved in with the family — to keep her safe from COVID-19's spread into nursing homes. Hannah chronicles the family's journey in a series of essays and audio diaries she produced as part of the Gen by Gen project with the Koreatown Youth and Community Center in Los Angeles.
April 17, 2020
My grandma came to live with us yesterday. Before her arrival, her crooked, old medical bed came first and we crammed it into our living room. We live four to a two-bedroom apartment in a part of Koreatown that hasn’t been gentrified yet. News broke last week that most of the senior convalescent centers have been infected with the coronavirus. The Korean radio station warned the public to take our grandparents home as soon as possible. In no time, my mom sprang into action and yesterday, my grandma, who has stayed at the Olympic Convalescent Center for more than five years, has finally gotten a change of scenery.

Hannah and her brother in a recent photo. (Courtesy of Hannah Haein Kim)
I guess you could say it’s bittersweet. It’s nice to have my family all together in one space, but at the same time I feel sad. My grandma has dementia and has lost the ability to walk. She cannot speak or go to the restroom by herself. We used to visit her at the center every other day and we would see only a glimpse of what it takes to care for the elderly. Now, my mom and I have to do everything. Watching my mom struggle to care for her own mother is, for lack of a better word, depressing.
With the quarantine in effect, my dad cannot run his small, acupuncture clinic. He is qualified to remain open because it’s considered “medical help,” but we had to make the difficult decision to close. My dad is almost seventy years old and we thought it’d be too risky for him and our family. We thought we’d be fine for a little bit, but you know what they say — even though work stops, expenses run on.


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Since the quarantine, we’ve been filling out more and more financial applications as the bills keep coming in. On top of this, our new landlord is planning on demolishing our four-unit apartment. My family and I have lived here for nearly ten years. We have a garden and a parking lot that we bike back and forth on. To be threatened by a huge corporate company is daunting, especially through this pandemic. Now, as a slightly bigger household, we have no choice but to accept the cards that are being dealt to us.

Hannah Haein Kim, her brother Joseph Jaein Kim, and father Chul Jik Kim in an undated family photo. (Courtesy of Hannah Haein Kim)
May 11, 2020

I haven’t written lately because when I write, it feels like I have to admit reality. Since the last time I wrote, a few things have drastically changed. Grandma passed away in the hospital. Both of my parents are there as well and my whole family tested positive for COVID-19.
Let me catch you up. Three weeks ago, my mom brought my grandma home from the nursing home, where she lived for six years. At first, she had no symptoms. At the same time, my dad had been feeling a little under the weather and would retire to his room earlier than usual. A few days later, it was my birthday and exactly around midnight, everything took a turn.

On April 27, my mom and I had to make a very hard decision. If we sent our grandma to the hospital, there was a chance we wouldn’t be able to ever see her again. But we knew she was going to pass away if we kept her in our home.


My grandma was spiking a fever. With her already weak body, she was fighting a 99-101 degree fever, which lasted for a week. The home care nurse told us there was nothing she could really do, because my grandma was in hospice. On April 27, my mom and I had to make a very hard decision. If we sent our grandma to the hospital, there was a chance we wouldn’t be able to ever see her again. But we knew she was going to pass away if we kept her in our home.
So we called 911. At the hospital, she was immediately put on a ventilator and a ton of other drugs. She tested positive for COVID-19 the next day. This raised a lot of questions like, “Why didn’t we call the ambulance sooner? Why didn’t anyone from the nursing home tell us there was a chance she had COVID-19? Do we all have the coronavirus now?”
After grandma went to the hospital, my dad had to call the ambulance for himself. I woke up at six o’clock that morning, my eyes sealed shut because of the tears that I had shed the night before. I sensed a sinister panic when I heard the ambulance sirens coming closer and closer to my apartment. Before the medics came, I ran to my dad’s room. He was sitting on his desk chair, limp as a noodle, staring at me with worry and panic. My nightmare was playing out right before my eyes.
The last time I saw my dad was when he entered the ambulance. I stood there with my mask on and nodded at him trying to signal that everything would be okay. I wasn’t sure if it would be, but I wanted him to feel safe. My eyes swelled up as the ambulance doors closed without any warning. And I stood there in my pajamas, watching the ambulance drive farther and farther away.

The last time I saw my dad was when he entered the ambulance. I stood there with my mask on and nodded at him trying to signal that everything would be okay. I wasn’t sure if it would be, but I wanted him to feel safe.


That same day, my mom started to feel sick to the point of not being able to breathe. I took her to the ER and she waited for five hours in a cold room, just to be sent home again. There were no beds available for her. When she got home, she couldn’t stop vomiting and coughing up blood. The next morning, I took her to the hospital again. She still had to wait about four hours, but this time, they admitted her.
My parents have been in the hospital for less than two weeks now, but it feels like a month.

The Kim family, Chul Jik Kim, Joseph, Hannah, and their mom, Eun Ju Kim. (Courtesy of Hannah Haein Kim)
My younger brother and I are home alone. We are very worried about our parents, but also about how we are going to pay our bills. The past few weeks have made a tangled-up ball of frustration and anxiety in my stomach. I’m getting bombarded with calls from the hospital, friends, and family—all out of love and concern, but I’m getting tired. Every hospital call feels like an iron to my heart. I have memorized all the phone numbers to the different floors my parents have been in.
I’m scared of what news the hospital will tell me the next day. I’m terrified, but I still have to listen.
For my grandma, her heart stopped while she was sedated, resting on the ventilator. Our family decided to cremate her and fly her ashes out to New York, where there’s a spot next to my grandpa.
I wonder how my mom is taking it. She’s alone and completely conscious. She has to grieve in isolation. Every phone call has been so short because she can’t breathe. Today, she has been moved to the ICU because her breathing was getting worse. No cell phones are allowed on that floor. So here I wait by the phone, heartbroken on Mother’s Day.
As for my dad, he’s in very critical condition. He is also on a ventilator. I just hope it doesn’t turn out the same as grandma.
Being home has been hell. I can’t do anything. I have no power. All I can do is pray.
Editor’s Note: Hannah and her brother also tested positive for COVID-19. They lost their sense of smell, but did not have many other symptoms. They’ve been alone at home now for four weeks. Their mother is steadily improving. On May 21, their father passed away.

Chul Jik Kim and his son Joseph Jaein Kim in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Hannah Haein Kim)
May 29, 2020
My dad’s passing is hitting us really hard. We loved and love him so much, but we know for a fact that he is in a much better place. It’s hard to admit that he isn’t with us anymore. This changes our lives — the way we live, the way we work, and the way we love each other. My brother and I are doing our best to prepare for our mother’s homecoming. We are cooking and cleaning — keeping each other accountable. Through this, we have become more tight-knit. Although our situation was truly devastating, we are learning so much about each other and the loving community that we have around us. We are taking things day by day.
My mother was released today from the ICU and is on the road to recovery.


https://www.kqed.org/news/11821015/...-covid-19-ravaged-one-family-in-las-koreatown

 

[eatshitndie]

blame it on the prc. i'd rather that more tiongs should die of wuhan virus than gooks.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

So the Wuhan virus is no different from the flu. If it's that deadly, the whole family would be dead

 

[bart12]

Sam Leong will tell them cv19 is a hoax..

 

[Leongsam]

Sam Leong will tell them cv19 is a hoax..

The virus is real the exaggeration of its seriousness is the hoax.

 

[A Singaporean]

The virus is real the exaggeration of its seriousness is the hoax.

You are putting lives in danger with your falsehood.

 

[Leongsam]

You are putting lives in danger with your falsehood.

Just work out the figures for yourself you don't have to take my word for it.

53,000 cases and only 27 deaths and that is the case fatality rate. The Infection mortality rate is even lower still.

The chances of dying from Dengue fever are higher.

 

[bart12]

Yeah ..near to 700000 CV death ..out of the 7 billions human in this planet is a drop in the bucket to you..

Just work out the figures for yourself you don't have to take my word for it.

53,000 cases and only 27 deaths and that is the case fatality rate. The Infection mortality rate is even lower still.

The chances of dying from Dengue fever are higher.

 

[syed putra]

Looks like there are weakness in US heslth care that is causing the covid deaths.

 

[Leongsam]

Looks like there are weakness in US heslth care that is causing the covid deaths.

It is the state of health of the elderly who caught the disease. No health system can save a whale that has difficulty flapping its tail.

 

[Leongsam]

fee.org

Why Sweden Succeeded in “Flattening the Curve” and New York Failed | Jon Miltimore
Jon Miltimore

10-12 minutes


Coronavirus deaths have slowed to a crawl* in Sweden.

But the debate over Sweden’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, which relied on individual responsibility instead of government coercion to maintain social distancing, is far from over.

Last week, The New York Times labeled Sweden’s approach to the pandemic a “cautionary tale” for the rest of the world, claiming it “yielded a surge of deaths without sparing its economy from damage.”

To be accurate, Sweden has outperformed many nations around the world with its “lighter touch” approach and was one of the few nations in Europe to see its economy grow in the first quarter of 2020.

Meanwhile, Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s top infectious disease expert, continues to defend his nation’s approach to the pandemic.

“I’m looking forward to a more serious evaluation of our work than has been made so far,” Tegnell said in a recent podcast published by Swedish public radio before taking a scheduled vacation. “There is no way of knowing how this ends.”

Sweden’s Actual Pandemic Performance

Sweden has become a global lightning rod, but this has less to do with the results of its policies than the nature of its policies.

While Sweden’s death toll is indeed substantially higher than neighbors such as Finland, Norway, and Denmark, it’s also much lower than several other European neighbors such as Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain.

Indeed, a simple comparison between Belgium and Sweden—nations with rather similar populations—reveals that Belgium suffered far worse than Sweden from the coronavirus.

The reason Sweden is a “cautionary tale” and Belgium is not is because Belgium followed the script. Early in the pandemic, Belgian officials closed all non-essential business and enforced strict social distancing rules.

All non-emergency workers were told to stay home. Shopping was limited to a single family member. Individuals could leave for medical reasons or to walk a pet or get a brief bit of exercise—so long as social distancing was maintained.

These lockdown protocols, the BBC reported, were strictly enforced by Belgian police using “drones in parks and fines for anyone breaking social distancing rules.”

A More Suitable ‘Cautionary Tale’

Sweden clearly endured the pandemic better than Belgium, which had nearly twice as many COVID-19 deaths despite its economic lockdown.

Yet the Times chose Sweden as its “cautionary tale” because Sweden chose not to institute an economic lockdown. Sweden took such an approach for two reasons. First, as Tegnell has publicly stated, there is little to no scientific evidence that lockdowns work. Second, as evidence today shows, lockdowns come with widespread unintended consequences: mass unemployment, recession, social unrest, psychological deterioration, suicides, and drug overdoses.

Even if Sweden has seen its death toll rise more sharply than Scandinavian neighbors such as Finland and Norway, it’s strange that the Times would go thousands of miles across an ocean and continent to find a “cautionary tale.” A far better cautionary tale can be found right under the Grey Lady’s nose.

A simple comparison between New York and Sweden shows the Empire State has suffered far worse from COVID-19 than the Swedes. Yinon Weiss, an entrepreneur and founder of Rally Point, recently compared Sweden and New York using data from the COVID Tracking Project.

The first thing one notices about the comparison is that Sweden was able to “flatten the curve,” so to speak. Though the phrase is largely forgotten today, flattening the curve was originally the entire purpose of the lockdowns. To the extent that there was a scientific basis for lockdowns, it was in the idea that they were a temporary measure designed to help hospitals avoid being overwhelmed by sick patients.

Dr Robert Katz, founding director of the Yale‐Griffin Prevention Research Center, observed that by flattening the curve “you don't prevent deaths, you just change the dates.” But a temporary lockdown could at least prevent everyone from getting sick at once, which would be catastrophic.

If flattening the curve was the primary goal of policymakers, Sweden was largely a success. New York, on the other hand, was not, despite widespread closures and strict enforcement of social distancing policies.

The reason New York failed and Sweden succeeded probably has relatively little to do with the fact that bars and restaurants were open in Sweden. Or that New York’s schools were closed while Sweden’s were open. As Weiss explains, the difference probably isn’t related to lockdowns at all. It probably has much more to do with the fact that New York failed to protect the most at-risk populations: the elderly and infirm.

“Here’s the good news: You can shut down businesses or keep them open. Close schools or stay in session. Wear masks or not,” says Weiss, a graduate of Harvard Business School. “The virus will make its way through in either case, and if we protect the elderly then deaths will be spared.”

This is precisely the prescription Dr. John Ioannidis, a Stanford University epidemiologist and one of the most cited scientists in the world, has advocated since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like Tegnell, Ioannidis early on expressed doubts about the effectiveness of lockdowns and warned they could produce wide-ranging unintended outcomes.
“One of the bottom lines is that we don’t know how long social distancing measures and lockdowns can be maintained without major consequences to the economy, society, and mental health,” Ioannidis wrote in a STAT article in March. "Unpredictable evolutions may ensue, including financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric.”

Sadly, many of the adverse consequences Ioannidis predicted have since come to pass, as he has acknowledged.

Is Sweden Truly a ‘Cautionary Tale’?

Tegnell and Swedish leaders have mostly stood by their lighter touch approach, although there is a recognition that they, too, could have more effectively protected at-risk populations.

“We must admit that the part that deals with elderly care, in terms of the spread of infection, has not worked. It is obvious. We have too many elderly people who have passed away,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said in June.

Yet it’s a mistake to label Sweden’s approach a failure. As noted above, Sweden is being criticized less because of the results of their public health policies and more because of the nature of them.

By embracing a much more market-based approach to the pandemic in lieu of a centrally planned one, Sweden is undermining the narrative that millions and millions of people would have died without lockdowns, as modelers predicted.

Without Sweden and a few similar outliers, it would be far easier for central planners to say, Sure, lockdowns were harsh and destructive. But we had no choice.
In the wake of the most destructive pandemic in a century, there will be considerable discussion as to whether the lockdowns, which stand to trigger a global depression in addition to other psychological and social costs, were truly necessary.

In a sense, the disagreement over the pandemic largely resembles a much larger friction in society: should individuals be left free to pursue their own interests and weigh risks themselves or should they be guided, coerced, and protected by planners who want to do all this for them.

As Ludwig Von Mises noted long ago, modern social conflict is largely a struggle over who gets to design the world, individuals or authorities. Mises saw few things more dangerous than central planners seeking to supplant the plans of individuals with plans of their own, which they see as a preeminent good.

It was partly for this reason Mises saw market economies as superior to command economies.

“Whatever people do in the market economy, is the execution of their own plans. In this sense every human action means planning,” Mises wrote in Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis. “What those calling themselves planners advocate is not the substitution of planned action for letting things go. It is the substitution of the planner’s own plan for the plans of his fellow-men. The planner is a potential dictator who wants to deprive all other people of the power to plan and act according to their own plans. He aims at one thing only: the exclusive absolute pre-eminence of his own plan.”

When Mises speaks of the “pre-eminence of his own plan,” it’s hard not to think of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who in March sounded downright indignant when a reporter asked about nursing homes objecting to his plan of prohibiting them from screening for COVID-19.

“They don’t have the right to object,” Cuomo answered. “That is the rule, and that is the regulation, and they have to comply with it.”

Cuomo clearly saw his central plan as superior to that of individuals acting within the marketplace.

The policy of forcing nursing homes to take COVID carrying patients, which was adopted by numerous US states with high virus death tolls, is a stark contrast to Sweden’s market-based approach that trusted individuals to plan for themselves.

“Our measures are all based on individuals taking responsibility, and that is … an important part of the Swedish model,” Hakan Samuelsson, the CEO of Volvo Cars, observed in April.

Sweden’s approach of encouraging social distancing by giving responsibility to individuals may very well explain why the Swedes fared so much better than New York, where authorities disempowered individual actors and prevented nursing homes from taking sensible precautions.

It’s almost absurd to look at New York’s pandemic plan and declare it superior to Sweden’s, yet many in the intellectual class will continue to hammer away at Sweden while ignoring the catastrophic numbers in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and other states.

This likely would have been no surprise to Mises. As he pointed out, the central planner is primarily concerned with a single factor: the pre-eminence of his own plan.
Once this truth is understood, one can finally understand the drumbeat of criticism against Sweden.

*This article was updated to remove language specific to daily COVID death total in Sweden, since figures change daily.

 

[syed putra]

Japan too is ignored. They did not bother to lockdown entirely. They did it based on what was a recognised effort, but abandoned it. And Abe wants to open up the country/ visitors to tourist from selected countries.
Taiwan on the other hand lockdown early and is now too scared to open its borders.

 

[knowwhatyouwantinlife]

Yeah ..near to 700000 CV death ..out of the 7 billions human in this planet is a drop in the bucket to you..

Have u caught the virus yet? Anyway no point debating this since sg will have one of the lowest covid infection and fatality rates once testing for fw stops in mid August...to achieve herd immunity u need 30%to get the virus...if you feel the virus is having a significant impact on your life you can always call counselling hotlines or write in to straits times to ask the govt to test everyone...maybe you have a solid gameplan care to share with us who have no playbooks here? Wish me luck im visiting the zoo today!

 

[blackmondy]

Looks like there are weakness in US heslth care that is causing the covid deaths.

There are weakness in healthcare everywhere. It just a matter of hiding them well.

 

[syed putra]

Japan: Covid-19 cases surges to 726 but Abe waves away imminent state of emergency

• JAPAN
• Saturday, 25 Jul 2020
  7:17 PM MYT
• • 
    

Employees dressed in maid costumes from several maid-themed cafes of Akihabara line up at the precinct prior to a prayer-meeting for protection from Covid-19 and for a thriving business at the Kanda Myojin shrine Saturday (July 25) in Tokyo. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike this week asked residents to stay home as much as possible during the long weekend, even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has gone ahead with a "Go To" tourism promotion campaign that excludes Tokyo. - AP
TOKYO, July 25, (Xinhua): The confirmed Covid-19 cases in Japan increased by 726 to reach 28,977 as of Saturday morning, according to the latest figures from the health ministry and local authorities, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying there is no need to declare a state of emergency again for the time being.

The number excludes the 712 cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama near Tokyo.



The death toll in Japan from the pneumonia-causing virus currently stands at a total of 1,007 people, including 13 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The health ministry also said there are currently 68 patients considered severely ill with ventilators or in intensive care units.


In Tokyo, the epicentreof Japan's outbreak, 260 new cases of infections were reported on Friday, down from the previous day's record-high figure of 366 cases.

Along with Tokyo, some other urban areas have also seen sharp increases of infections since a nationwide state of emergency was completely lifted in late May.

Despite rising numbers of coronavirus infections, Abe said on Friday (July 24) that the situation did not warrant another state of emergency.

"We are not in a situation to reimpose a state of emergency," he told reporters, adding that the central government is closely watching developments.

 

[syed putra]

There are weakness in healthcare everywhere. It just a matter of hiding them well.

In the US, getting private healthcare to respond to a national tragedy is difficult. Only state sponsored hospitals will abide. And there are very few of those.

 

[nirvarq]

It's a scam and conspiracy to sell vaccines and destroy the economies to gain more control by authorities that have begin to lose the trust of the people gladly participate.

Social Media has awaken much of the people and people begin to lose trust of authorities.

They use the fear factor of China's first cases of dropping dead and becoming insane which is by now clearly not associated to COVID to instill fear to the world and start the global LOCKDOWN.

Hence understand the truth and do not live in fear. This COVID is not at all fatal or even serious to SINKIES. It only seeks FW and PR is it not the facts here in SG ? /rofl.............


6 months and you don't see begging on the streets for food, crime rate or robbing or deaths rise at all in SG aren't y'all at the least surprised ? SInkies kpkb but boh tai chi leh is it not ? lol........

Now Pinky buay tahan not the people lol..................... Spent and gib so much money y'all don't increase the votes make him malu and still don't die wtf ?!!

Pinky Pinky of the whore who's the mightiest of them wor ? SINKIES Mah ! Farking laff-die-me /roflmao


*Think about it. Do you think we can really contain the 'Virus' in the dorms only for so long six months already leh ? No way right ? There are securities and food supply and their bosses supervisors and coordinators and also doctors, nurses and swap testers among them all the while right ? These people don't go home 6 months meh ? lol.............

Also why are all the travellers from overseas which obviously have no fever or are sick when they left their airport/countries eps India but when reach here tested positive ? Think deeper !

The truth is ? I'll leave it to your own imagination and conscientiousness. lol........