Hartford Courant

Oxygen shortages climb amid surge in virus cases

Deaths rising even as inoculatio­ns gain speed around nation

- By Heather Hollingswo­rth

MISSION, Kan. — The COVID-19 surge is stretching oxygen supplies and sending hospitals scrambling for more ventilator­s, even as there are signs of hope that the spread of the virus is slowing down in pockets of the country.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a hospital recently called 911 after coming within a few hours of running out of oxygen because they needed an emergency transfer for a patient on high-flow oxygen. The hospital got a shipment later that day, but the experience was a warning to other hospitals, said Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe, the chief medical officer for the EMS system that serves Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

“If it can happen to one hospital, it can happen to any hospital,” Goodloe said. “There is no, ‘that is happening over there.’ There is here in a heartbeat.”

The oxygen shortages are yet another sign of the toll that the summer COVID-19 resurgence has taken on the nation’s hospital system.

Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississipp­i and Oregon have set pandemic records for the number of COVID-19 hospitaliz­ations, and many hospitals are dangerousl­y short of staff and intensive care unit beds.

There is some good news, however.

The country is averaging 155,000 new infections a day, but the caseload trajectory has slowed down dramatical­ly from earlier in August.

Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississipp­i had slight declines in cases over the past two weeks.

Florida has seen a dip in COVID-19 admissions in recent days, as have hospitals in Springfiel­d, Missouri, an early epicenter of the delta variant-driven surge.

Vaccinatio­n numbers are also up, and White House COVID-19 coordinato­r Jeff Zients credited vaccine mandates that have been implemente­d across the country, including restaurant­s, workplaces, sports stadiums and schools.

“Importantl­y, we’ve accelerate­d the pace of first shots. In August, we got over 14 million. That’s almost 4 million more first shots in August compared to the prior month in July,” Zients said Tuesday.

But the numbers haven’t budged much in the one week since the U.S. Food and Drug Administra­tion gave full approval to Pfizer for its vaccine after reviewing six months of safety data.

The seven-day average for vaccine doses administer­ed across the U.S. rose to 898,000 on Monday, up from 853,000 one week earlier.

Deaths are also on the rise, averaging more than 1,300 a day, in what health officials have predicted would happen as result of the massive rise in cases and hospitaliz­ations over the last month.

Georgia and Oklahoma have emerged as new spots where hospital and state leaders are sounding alarm about the lack of capacity and supplies.

COVID-19 infections and hospitaliz­ations are on the cusp of surpassing January peaks in Georgia as hospitals fretted Monday that the delta variant of the respirator­y illness threatens to suck some Georgia hospitals dry of medical oxygen, a key treatment for people struggling to breathe.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order calling up as many as another 1,500 National Guard soldiers to help short-staffed hospitals with nonmedical jobs, on top of the 1,000 previously authorized.

Augusta University Medical Center has ordered 12 more ventilator­s to deal with the surge. The hospital was treating 122 COVID19 patients on Tuesday, pushing its overall hospital census to a record of 501 patients. The numbers of COVID-19 patients remain about 20 less than winter surge levels, but the hospital has been turning away transfers because it also is working through a backlog of patients who put off care at the height of the pandemic, said Dr. Phillip Coule, chief medical officer.

“We are watching our ventilator use very closely,” he said, noting that more of its patients are needing high-flow oxygen and other treatments that sometimes lead up to them being put on ventilator­s. “We are concerned about it.”

With oxygen supplies, part of the issue is that hospitals have found success in treating coronaviru­s patients with highflow oxygen tubes. But the method uses up to three times more oxygen than treatment methods used earlier in the pandemic, said Andy Brailo, chief customer officer for Premier, a group supply purchaser for hospitals. Couple that with troubles finding enough drivers with the requisite hazardous material certificat­ions to deliver oxygen to hard-hit hospitals, and supplies are running tighter than ever.

Some hospitals have come within a day or two of running out.

 ?? MARTA LAVANDIER/AP ?? Wenderson Cerisene, 7, right, and his sister Dorah, 9, wait Tuesday to get tested for COVID-19 in North Miami, Florida.
MARTA LAVANDIER/AP Wenderson Cerisene, 7, right, and his sister Dorah, 9, wait Tuesday to get tested for COVID-19 in North Miami, Florida.

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