Coronavirus spread now as bad as it was in March, state says. Hospitals could be overwhelmed
If the current coronavirus infection and hospitalization rates continue on their upward climb, Washington state hospitals could soon be overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
That was the message from a briefing on the pandemic Wednesday afternoon by state health officials and health care executives.
“We are experiencing the fastest growth of COVID-19 since March,” said Dr. Kathy Lofy, state health officer with the Department of Health.
What is worrisome, Lofy said, is that COVID-19 patients in hospitals are increasing.
“I am particularly concerned about how sharp the increase is in the number of beds occupied in western Washington, both regular hospital beds and the number of ICU beds that are occupied by COVID patients,” she said.
Given current rates, Lofy said, disease modelers estimate 150 coronavirus patients will be admitted daily to Washington hospitals.
“If Nov. 16 restrictions that the governor recently announced are successful as they were back in March, we can reverse this trend,” she said.
At Swedish First Hill Hospital in Seattle, 10 COVID-19 patients were admitted within five hours Wednesday morning, said Dr. Elizabeth Wako, chief operating officer.
“That is exponential for us here,” she said. Cases have tripled since Halloween, she added.
The surge was expected, Wako said, and the hospital is so far prepared for it.
Hospital capacity can depend on staffing or beds, given the particular hospital.
“We have staff, but it’s bed capacity at this point for us,” said Dr. Andrea Carter, chief medical officer at Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake.
“What we’re hearing from hospitals is that finding the staff who can work in the ICU is one of the limiting factors,” Lofy said.
Despite the surge, hospitals remain safe for non-coronavirus health care, doctors said. However, hospitals and clinics are continuing to see fewer patients seeking care.
“Our emergency room visits still have not recovered to pre-COVID levels,” Wako said. In addition, patients are putting off seeing their doctors, even for cancer.
“In oncology, we’ve seen patients presenting with late stage disease,” Wako said. “That’s just starting to show up now.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 4:36 PM.
