Nuvance hospitals seeing ‘winter surge’ of virus cases
DANBURY — The number of coronavirus patients in the Nuvance Health system is climbing, but has not yet reached the spring peak.
Nuvance, which includes Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk, Sharon and three other hospitals, had 341 patients on Saturday, the highest number since the end of April.
“We certainly are concerned because of Thanksgiving that those numbers are even going to go higher,” Kerry Eaton, chief operating officer for Nuvance, said during a forum on Wednesday. “So, we are prepared.”
But patients are going home sooner than they did in the spring.
“It is very busy but we are managing well so far thanks to our dedicated staff — they are just wonderful,” said Dr. Jeffrey Nicastro, chief medical officer for Nuvance. “What’s different from the spring surge is that we know more today so our approach to diagnosis and treatment is more effective with shorter length of stays and a lesser progression of the illness for most patients.”
Hospital staff have developed plans for how to handle a surge, studying staffing clinical care and other aspects of the response, Eaton said.
“We really have a playbook for just about everything you can imagine,” she said.
Nuvance reached a peak of 544 patients on April 11 and then a 17-patient low on July 25, according to the figures she presented. These numbers
include patients who were admitted to the hospital and those treated and released from the emergency department and observation program, Eaton said.
Hospitalizations started to climb in the mid-to-end of August, then fell again in September, before rising in October. The largest, latest jump was between Nov. 7’s 138 patients to Nov.
14’s 247.
“We are seeing that winter surge that everyone predicted,” Eaton said. “Our numbers are not as high as they were yet in April, but we are seeing numbers around like we were in May.”
During the peak, Danbury Hospital had more than 100 patients. The hospital has sent home more than 800 COVID-19 patients since the pandemic began, Eaton said.
“We took very good care of our patients and we learned a lot,” she said.
Unlike in the spring, Nuvance plans to continue with elective surgeries.
“There is really no such thing — I don’t think — as elective surgery,” Eaton said. “People get surgery because they have a medical problem and, in some cases, it shouldn’t be delayed for too long.”
Outpatient surgical volume dropped significantly this spring compared to last year, with 116 patients in April 2020, opposed to
683 that month in 2019.
These surgeries have resumed, with 650 patients in October of this year compared to just under 700 that month last year.
“We continue to do those now and we’ve done so very safely with zero incidents of issues since we started surgery,” Eaton said.
Visits to the emergency department fell considerably, as well. There were 2,708 visits in April 2020, compared to 5,417 in April 2019.
This was concerning because some people waited too long to seek medical attention for chest pain, stroke symptoms and more, Eaton said.
“Some people did delay care and treatment because they were afraid to come to the hospital, and, in fact, had outcomes that might have been better had they gotten earlier treatment,” she said.
The hospitals have “robust procedures” to keep COVID-19 and other patients separated, she said.
“Our staff are very well trained in all the techniques to keep you safe, so please don’t delay care,” Eaton said.