Daviewolf83 said:
Mormad said:
We're at 158 in the hospital, 27 in icu, 16 intubated
Update: we're at 175, and current projections are 250 by Christmas, and they feel like our death count over the next 10 wks could match that of the previous 8 months. Ouch.
Mormad - I spent the day driving to Louisville, Kentucky today for a football game tomorrow, so I have not had a chance to thank you for the update. The ICU numbers seem to be inline with the statewide statistics (approximately 25% of all Covid patients in ICU), so not too surprising. It is helpful to know how many of these are intupated, since this is information NCDHHS does not provide in their hospitalization updates.
Regarding your comments on the vaccine, I know we all hope it works to stop the spread of the virus. If it does not, I am not sure what Plan B would be, so we really have to hope Plan A works.
I do have a question about the people hospitalized who are not in ICU. I have been curious as to the level of care these people are receiving in the hospital. Is it medicines that can only be delivered in a hospital? Is it supplemental oxygen? Can you help provide some insight into these patients? Everyone I have known who has been infected with Covid has not required hospitalization, so I am curious about the conditions that cause the need to hospitalize these patients. Thanks again for all the information you provide to us in this thread. It is very helpful.
Typically, it's peeps who need supplemental O2 and meds like antivirals and decadron. This can stop the downward spiral to the need for icu care in those felt to be at risk. Luckily, most infected don't require such care, and it's a judgement call for the ED docs whether some can be discharged from the ED to home or need consultation for admission for higher level care.
As you know, a small percentage of those admitted are actually being admitted for other issues and found to have covid on routine testing. But they're still listed as covid admissions because their infection, whether clinically significant or not, changes everything in order to limit exposure to staff and other patients.
The goal is to keep covid OUT of the hospital. It stresses the system and inhibits the ability to care for the non-infected community. It costs the system so much more than the relatively tiny uptick in payment they get for covid status. One NC hospital has shut down its OR because of 55 infected OR staff. They can't even staff their rooms adequately, and when emergencies are done they have to use cross coverage staff. Not all OR staff are proficient at craniotomies or open hearts, so it puts those patients at some increased risk, for example. Physicians are being asked to manage patients usually managed by hospitalists or critical care docs because those teams are being maxed out by covid. If we have experience running ventilators we're being asked to cross cover and potentially manage the critically ill. My pain management physician, who is originally trained as an anesthesiologist, is cross covering in the icu on the weekend. Every week brings a new challenge.
