COVID-19 related hospitalizations are reaching new peaks regionally and statewide.
"The seven-day ICU average now sits at 28 beds for our hospital system. To give perspective, that's roughly one out of four beds in our ICU system are in use for COVID patients," said Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson on Thursday. "In terms of the med surge capacity, we're at 73, which is the highest we've been at since the beginning of this pandemic. That's around 11% of current beds in use for just COVID patients."
That's the latest tally total hospital space available at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and UnityPoint's Methodist, Proctor, and Pekin hospitals.
There were 104 people hospitalized for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Friday, including 27 people in the ICU.
It's certainly a concern on the state level, according to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
“If the current trajectory continues, if our hospitals continue to fill up, if more and more people continue to lose their lives to this disease, we’re going to implement further statewide mitigations, which nobody – and I mean nobody – wants,” Pritzker said yesterday during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Chicago.
As of Thursday night, 4,090 people statewide were hospitalized for COVID-19. 786 patients were in the ICU, and 339 were on ventilators.
When asked if area hospitals are beginning to become concerned about whether they have adequate capacity to handle the surge in cases and hospitalizations, Hendrickson said the question was better referred to the hospitals themselves. But she said one of the first levels of services rolled back if there is a capacity crunch would be so-called "elective surgeries."
"Individuals who had been waiting for that knee replacement for months now, they might be even pushed back further because they have to maintain that capacity for that influx," she said.
OSF HealthCare pivoted back to the health department on capacity questions. A spokesperson said they are not self-reporting numbers, and instead letting the public health departments relay information. However, that spokesperson did say the OSF system currently has an adequate supply of personal protective equipment, and elective procedures will continue as scheduled for now.
"Not all elective procedures require hospitalization and not all hospitalized COVID-19 patients are in ICU beds. That’s the extent to what we can say," said the OSF spokesperson.
A UnityPoint Health spokesperson said the challenges facing the healthcare system are "very real and urgent." That includes maintaining adequate staffing levels as increasing numbers of employees across the system contract COVID-19 or are otherwise forced to isolate at home.
"The entire UnityPoint Health System is seeing an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations. We continue to work closely with our community partners to ensure we have the necessary beds, equipment, staffing and PPE to safely care for our communities, whether it is COVID-19 or other illness or injury," said the spokesperson in a statement. "We have plans in place should there be a need for additional coronavirus care. At this time, we are not diverting patients for care at other partner facilities."
Hendrickson said the best way to maintain adequate capacity is for the community to take care of themselves through some basic precautionary measures.
"To help our hospital systems out, do all those mitigation efforts that we talk about," she said. "But also, get your flu vaccine. During this time of year, it's actually one of the largest reasons people get hospitalized. And we have a vaccine for it. We should take advantage of it."
The Tri-County region reported more than 1,200 new COVID-19 cases in just the week between Oct. 29 and Nov. 5. An additional 315 cases were added on Friday, bringing the three counties up to 9,977 cases total since March. One-hundred sixty-seven people have died from COVID-19 complications over the same timespan.
The entire Tri-County region is under a "coronavirus warning level" as of Friday, as new cases, positivity rates, and emergency room visits for COVID-like symptoms exceed the standards set by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The region also joined every other part of the state in implementation of new restrictions on restaurants, bars, and gatherings earlier this week in efforts to tamp down on the coronavirus spread - though many businesses and communities say they plan to disregard those gubernatorial orders.
Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.
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