No ICU beds left in Mississippi as COVID-19 case levels continue to hit record highs

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No ICU beds left in Mississippi as COVID-19 case levels continue to hit record highs

Show Caption Hide Caption β€˜It's like a war.’ Hospital staff tell the story of COVID-19 Doctors, nurses and other hospital staff in Monmouth and Ocean counties describe the difficult losses and cherished victories of the human toll of the coronavirus fight.

The surge of COVID-19 cases in Mississippi has left no intensive care unit beds available across the state and prompted the need for restrictions, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Friday.

Dobbs said in a Tweet that beginning Tuesday, all elective procedures that require hospitalization must be delayed statewide. The Mississippi Department of Health is also anticipating many more hospitalizations as the increase in cases continues.

9.8% of COVID cases end up in the hospital

MS ICU's full and many hospitalizations on the way

Beginning next Tues elective surgeries that require hospitalization must be delayed - statewide pic.twitter.com/f0qVuEn2cC β€” thomas dobbs (@TCBPubHealth) December 11, 2020

Liz Sharlot, director of communications for the health department, said the order will go into effect Tuesday and last until Dec. 23. Procedures such as knee replacements and colonoscopies will be among those delayed, but things such as cancer treatments and trauma surgery will not.

According to data from the health department, at least 300 patients were confirmed to be in ICU beds across the state as of Wednesday. In the Jackson metro area, Dobbs has stated that there has been no bed availability for intensive care patients for several weeks.

In November, Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the University of Mississippi Medical Center's School of Medicine, said ICU beds in their network are full. Some patients were forced to wait in emergency department rooms for new ICU beds to open.

Marc Rolph, the executive director for communications and marketing for UMMC, said that the situation has not changed. As of Friday morning, 13 people were waiting for an ICU bed in their network.

Holiday gatherings contributing to increase in cases

Mississippi's latest spike is due in part to people gathering over the holidays. Medical experts across the state anticipated the increase for weeks and warned residents against hosting large parties and family meals, instead suggesting they keep celebrations inside their nuclear household.

But a large number of cases have been recorded in Mississippi in the weeks since, with the state setting a new single-day record on Wednesday. In total, more than 11,000 new cases have been identified this week as of Friday. Mississippi officially exceeded 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday.

Staffing a concern for many hospitals as surge continues

Staffing at medical centers across Mississippi has also become a major concern in recent weeks as hospitalizations increase.

"There are staffing shortages around the state that is for certain, like we may have enough ventilators but we may not have enough staff to operate those ventilators," Sharlot said. "So, it's a combination. There's a lack of staff, a lack of hospital space."

Rolph said the staffing situation at UMMC continues to be a concern and has worsened due to positive COVID-19 test results among staff members.

Dr. Maroun Hayek, an oncology and hematology specialist assisting in efforts to treat COVID-19 patients at the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, said he's seen nurses work themselves to the point of exhaustion over the course of the pandemic.

"At the peak in July, I walked onto the floor one day and a nurse had collapsed on her station, sound asleep. That's how exhausted she was," he said.

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Hayek said staffing is, by far, the most challenging issue for his hospital going forward.

"It does impact everything and it slows down everything," he said.

Staff writer Gabriela Szymanowska contributed to this report.

Contact Keisha Rowe at [email protected], on Twitter or at (601) 760-2483.

JohnnyBoy11 on December 12nd, 2020 at 07:56 UTC »

300 COVID ICU patients, 200 of which are vented. The article says 13 patients are in the ER waiting for an ICU bed in one of their health systems.

A few hundred may not sound like a lot but that's all it takes to overwhelm a very specialized, highly trained, resource-intensive section of the hospital system.

BlurryBigfoot74 on December 12nd, 2020 at 05:18 UTC »

This is the most frustrating part. Hospitals overrun leading to more people dying for all the wrong reasons and you still see people say "but it's a 99% survival rate".

Timeisup_now on December 12nd, 2020 at 04:32 UTC »

Well fuck. This will not end well.