Hospital stays could be impressive, but deaths are increasing in the Washington wave of COVID-19
By Debbie Cockrell / The News Tribune
Delta variant hospital stays are declining in some parts of Washington state, but deaths are rising and border communities continue to grapple with COVID-19 cases.
That was Monday’s update from the Washington State Hospital Association, which held weekly media briefings with health officials from across the state to offer updates on the surge in COVID cases.
There are currently 1,504 COVID-19 hospital admissions across the state, compared to 1,673 last week, with approximately 260 patients on ventilators.
“One of the reasons why hospital admission rates are falling is because of rising death rates,” said association executive director Cassie Sauer. “And if there are fewer people in the hospital, it is because some have died.”
She added that there are “a number of counties that are either ordering additional morgue capacity through refrigerated trucks or working with their morgues to see how capacity can be increased”.
Ten COVID patients died within a 24-hour cycle at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Thurston County health officials said last week. It was the highest single-day death toll in Providence since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Some of the most dramatic details offered on Monday came from Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center’s President Jon Hersen of Vancouver, Washington, and Dr. Dan Getz, Chief Medical Officer of the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.
Both reported seeing a high number of cases.
Hersen told reporters, “The effects of this particular variant have been and are devastating.”
“In the last 30 days. From August 15 to September 15, we have an average of 63 COVID-positive patients in the house per day. Just to give you an order of magnitude, during some of the other climbs we were between the high 20s and low 30s, ”Hersen said.
The median age of the patients in the hospital was 57 years, he said.
“We are certainly busy and it is essentially clogging the entire system. Basically, we are admitting patients to the emergency room who would normally be hospitalized, which then leads to extremely long waiting times in the emergency room downstream, ”he said.
Hersen also pointed out that there has been violence against health workers and that some workers suffer from “extreme burnout and exhaustion”.
“Many choose to leave the profession, and obviously the mandate will result in others potentially leaving too,” he said. “We also face a lot of verbal and sometimes physical abuse from our community – continued opposition to masking and visitor guidelines.
“Our screeners, who are the front door to our community, are exposed to verbal and sometimes physical abuse and unnecessary stressful situations on a daily basis.”
Getz said the delays in other care interventions were “heartbreaking” as his east Washington hospital handled transfers from Idaho, a state that has transitioned to emergency care standards.
“We still feel like we are in crisis, and we’ve done many things to expand the hospital’s capacity – very difficult decisions, including taking a break from non-emergency surgery,” including cancer surgery, noted Getz.
“We say, ‘Well, maybe we can do this surgery in two weeks because right now we need to increase our capacity in our intensive care unit for these patients with COVID.’ We continue to help our eastern neighbors in Idaho … but it’s a challenge. We really need the help of the community to get vaccinated and wear masks, ”said Getz.
“Remember, if you are a patient recently diagnosed with cancer, we have a way to cure this, surgically remove it from your body, and we will call you and say it will be two weeks … maybe three or four. “Weeks. In the meantime, you are tormenting yourself. It’s a diagnosis that is redefining who you are. It’s pretty much all you think about until you deal with it. “
A request for federal support in health care staffing has yet to be determined, Sauer told reporters on Monday.
In a September 17 letter, Governor Jay Inslee requested federal assistance from Jeff Zients, federal coordinator for COVID-19 responses, who was looking for clinical and non-clinical staff to support the state’s health networks.
“To date, the Washington State Department of Health has recruited 1,200 clinical and non-clinical personnel under the General Services Administration contract process offered by FEMA,” wrote Inslee. “I continue to call for the Department of Defense to send medical personnel to help with the current hospital crisis. When announcing the COVID-19 action plan, the president indicated that more clinical teams would be available. This aid will be of considerable value in Washington State. “
Sauer: “What we understand first is that the contract includes 1,200 employees and that the contractor can initially fulfill about a quarter of this request and hopes to be able to fulfill even more.”
In the Puget Sound area, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health told The News Tribune that there were 201 COVID-positive patients across the system on Monday, up from 219 patients a week ago.
MultiCare said it currently has 216 COVID patients hospitalized across its network, which includes East Washington, compared to 207 in the Puget Sound area alone on Sept. 10.
Sauer told reporters Monday that the WSHA asked the governor to implement a statewide mandate to verify vaccines / tests, similar to what was announced in King County last week.
On Thursday, King County’s health officials announced a new health ordinance due to go into effect October 25th that requires a vaccination record or negative test to dine indoors, watch a movie in a theater or gym in that county to train.
Sauer said the association also plans to “write to all local health authorities across the state asking them to … implement a similar vaccine verification system.”
Last week, Karen Irwin, COVID-19 communications director for the Tacoma-Pierce County’s Department of Health, told The News Tribune in response to whether TPCHD is considering a similar measure: so we can end the pandemic. “