COVID hospitalizations up 89 percent for one local health system since start of month
As new cases of COVID-19 surge in Pierce County, so have hospitalizations.
State data on hospitalizations, which is incomplete for the current week, indicated on Monday that Pierce County was seeing patient spikes akin to late March.
Tacoma-based MultiCare told The News Tribune on Monday that it had 62 COVID patients, up from 56 on Friday and a 41 percent increase from Nov. 1, across its six hospitals in the Puget Sound region.
The system’s two hospitals in Spokane County, MultiCare Deaconess Hospital and MultiCare Valley Hospital, had 25 COVID patients Monday, up from 15 patients on Friday and a 57 percent increase since the start of the month.
On Monday, Tacoma-based CHI Franciscan told The News Tribune it had 85 known COVID-19 patients admitted across its eight hospitals in the region.
“Since Nov. 1, we have seen an 89 percent increase in COVID patients in our system, and a 27 percent increase since Friday,” the health system said in a statement.
Hospital capacity as of Nov. 9 was holding steady according to Tacoma-Pierce County Department of Health’s dashboard. Its next update is Wednesday and could tell a different story given the most recent spikes.
As a result of the surging cases, both CHI Franciscan and MultiCare have increased visitor restrictions at their hospitals.
“We are implementing Phase 3 visitor restrictions across our acute care hospitals, which generally means no visitors except in limited circumstances, such as beginning or end of life care. This decision is intended to limit potential spread as increased cases in the community increases the risk in our hospitals,” CHI Franciscan stated Monday.
MultiCare is now restricting all visitors from its hospital facilities with the following exceptions:
▪ NICU and pediatric inpatients (ages 17 and under) may continue to have only the same two people for their entire hospital stay.
▪ Laboring mothers may continue to have two healthy support people during labor and delivery, including a spouse or partner, a family member, a friend or a certified doula.
▪ Accommodations will be made for patients at end of life.
▪ Accommodations also will be made for patients who require caregivers for safety reasons.
The health systems have been battling COVID-19 outbreaks.
MultiCare faced a recent outbreak at its medical center in Auburn involving nine patients and five workers; one of the patients died.
CHI Franciscan’s St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma as of last week had 23 staff members test positive and four patients who tested positive in the hospital after initial negative tests upon admittance.
“COVID-19 is on the rise, and we are doing everything we can to meet the needs of our patients, staff, and communities, said Cary Evans, vice president of communications and government affairs for CHI Franciscan.
”All of us must work together to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Wear a mask, maintain social distancing, wash your hands, and please be safe this winter.”
