STAFF AND NEWS SERVICE REPORTS
January 28, 2021
Dr. Peter Jacoby
Days after a new report showed that fatal overdoses have skyrocketed to record highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal Department of Health and Human Services has relaxed a regulation on prescribing addiction medication in an effort to combat the rising death toll.
Buprenorphine, a popular opioid addiction treatment drug, has long had its prescribing restricted by the federal government. Physicians must undergo special training to obtain what’s known as an “x-waiver” from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in order to prescribe the drug, which is itself an opioid.
Only a fraction of doctors in the country had x-waivers, and about half of waivered physicians didn’t prescribe buprenorphine to clients anyway.
CHART: COVID-19 pandemic has strained hospitals far beyond normal flu Print this article
The COVID-19 pandemic has strained hospitals across the country to a far greater degree than any recent flu season.
A
Washington Examiner analysis finds that COVID-19 hospitalizations have been about four times worse than the most severe recent seasonal flu and many times worse than in a normal flu season.
Medical professionals say that the stress the pandemic has put on the system is not comparable to that of the flu. To someone who says that, I d tell them, Spend a day with me and let me tell you what I ve seen for the last 10 months, said Dr. Comilla Sasson, an emergency physician at the University of Colorado Hospital. Since the pandemic began, Sasson has also assisted at hospitals across the nation, including in New York, South Dakota, and Texas.
If you call 911, it can take 2-3 minutes longer to get help now
Imagine suffering a serious accident and calling 911 but not getting an ambulance immediately.
Or having a severe asthma attack and fighting for every breath but having to wait an extra minute or two for help.
The winter Covid-19 surge has been the worst surge of this pandemic in the US. And it’s impacting patients who don’t even have coronavirus by increasing ambulance response times and ER wait times.
“As resources get stretched thin, it just takes longer to respond,” said Shawn Baird, president of the American Ambulance Association.