COVID surge makes ICU beds scarce in South
Experts fear lower standards of care with such an influx
Hospitals in the South are running dangerously low on space in intensive care units, as the delta variant has led to spikes in coronavirus cases not seen since last year’s deadly winter wave.
One in four hospitals now reports more than 95 percent of ICU beds occupied — up from one in five last month. Experts say it can become difficult to maintain standards of care for the sickest patients in hospitals where all or nearly all ICU beds are occupied.
In June, when COVID-19 cases were at their lowest level, less than one in 10 hospitals had dangerously high occupancy rates.
In Texas, 169 hospitals have ICUs that are more than 95 percent full, up from 69 in June. Only about 700 intensive care beds remain across the entire state, according to recent data.
Hospitals in Houston built overflow tents last month to handle the influx of patients, and the rate of hospitalizations in the state is now 40 percent higher than when the tents were built.
In Hidalgo County, along the Mexican border, about 50 pa
tients were in the hospital with COVID-19 on a given day in July. By early August, the number had soared to over 600.
“Back in July we were almost celebrating. Little did we know,” said Ivan Melendez, public health authority for Hidalgo County.
The situation has improved, with just under 300 people in the hospital as of Monday, but ICUs are still above 90 percent capacity, Melendez said.
Twenty-four hospitals in Florida reported having more ICU patients last week than available beds.
In Alabama, all ICU beds are occupied. In recent days, dozens of patients in the state have needed beds that weren’t available, according to data published by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Patients with critical conditions besides COVID, such as heart attacks or strokes, also are impacted by the ICU shortage.
One Alabama hospital contacted 43 others in three states to find a specialty cardiac ICU bed for Ray Martin DeMonia, but he didn’t get help soon enough. The 73-year-old died Sept. 1.
“In honor of Ray, please get vaccinated if you have not, in an effort to free up resources for non-COVID related emergencies,” his family pleaded in his obituary.
Unvaccinated Americans are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID than the vaccinated, according to a recent study by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Several of the states with the highest rates of ICU occupancy, including Alabama and Mississippi, are also among those with the lowest vaccination rates.
“Our biggest concerns are our low vaccination rates,” said Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama’s state health officer. “That’s the reason we’re in the situation that we’re in. Virtually all of our deaths are people who are unvaccinated.”
Hospitalizations among children under 18 are also higher than ever during this wave of the virus, driven largely by surges among children in the least vaccinated states.
“Now in Kentucky, one-third of new cases are under age 18,” said Dr. Ryan Stanton, an emergency room physician in Lexington. Some children brought it home from summer camp and spread it to the rest of the family, and now, “between day care and schools and school activities, and friends getting together, there are just so many exposures.”
The deteriorating picture nine months into the nation’s vaccination drive has angered and frustrated medical professionals who see the heartbreak as preventable.
“The problem now is we have been trying to educate based on science, but I think most of the education that is happening now is based on tragedy, personal tragedy,” Stanton said.
In Kentucky, 70 percent of the state’s hospitals are reporting critical staff shortages, the highest level yet during the pandemic, the governor said.
“Our hospitals are at the brink of collapse in many communities,” said Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s
public health commissioner.
The U.S. is averaging over 1,800 COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new cases per day, the highest levels respectively since early March and late January. And both figures have been on the rise over the past two weeks.
The country is still well below the terrifying peaks reached in January, when it was averaging about 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day.
The U.S. is dispensing about 900,000 vaccinations per day, down from a high of 3.4 million a day in mid-April. On Friday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will meet to discuss whether the U.S. should begin giving booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine.