SALEM, Oregon (AP) – Oregon was once the son of the poster to limit the spread of the coronavirus, after its Democratic governor imposed some of the country’s strictest security measures, including indoor mask warrants and outside, the limits on meetings and the order to close restaurants. .
But now the state is being hammered by the super transmissible delta variant, and hospitals are spreading to the breaking point. The vast majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are not vaccinated.
The intensive care unit at Salem Hospital in the Oregon capital is completely full, with 19 of the 30 beds occupied last week by COVID-19 patients, the youngest just 20 years old. It’s the same in a hospital in Roseburg, an old wooden town in western Oregon. A COVID-19 patient died in the emergency room last week while waiting for the ICU bed to open, a fact that was deeply distressing for medical staff.
“We need your help, grace and kindness,” CHI Health Medical Center staff told Facebook. They are rejecting “the extraordinary onslaught of new cases and hospitalizations.”
Oregon is among a handful of states, including Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana, that have more people hospitalized with COVID-19 than ever before.
“This is really a terrible situation,” said Jeff Absalon, chief medical officer of St. Louis. Charles Health System in Bend. Last week, National Guard troops were deployed to the mountain town hospital to help medical workers.
Some 1,500 guards have been sent to hospitals across the state by Gov. Kate Brown, who warned of the “severity of this crisis for all Oregonians, especially those in need of emergencies and intensive care.”
Oregon continues to break records for the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized, reaching 937 on Monday. This is an increase of 50% over last year’s record, when vaccines were not yet available. Currently, more than 90% of the beds in the Oregon Adult Hospital and ICU are full.
And on Monday, Legacy Health, a Portland hospital system that includes six hospitals, said it stopped all non-urgent surgical procedures for two weeks to create bed capacity.
Lisa, a Salem Hospital ICU nurse, told a small group of visiting reporters Friday that she is frustrated and sad to see a record number of patients with COVID-19, even though vaccines are widely available. He spoke on the condition that his last name not be used, because the pandemic and the way to fight it have become very politicized.
“We were dealing with the second wave when we thought – I guess we expected – that it would not come. And it has arrived. And it’s getting harder, worse than before, “he said. Hours earlier, a COVID-19 patient died in the ICU.
As he spoke, a patient’s heart monitor rang. A mechanical fan occasionally added a sharper tone. Fifteen of the COVID-19 patients wore ventilators. The hospital’s wellness department, which normally recommends yoga and deep breathing to relax, recently set up a stand and filled it with dinner plates to relax stress.
“We put on safety glasses,” Lisa said. “And we took dishes and destroyed them. And he kept coming back. I went back and they told me I had enough laps.
He said one of the advantages over last year’s increase is that he has been vaccinated, so he is not so afraid of dying. Another improvement is that there are many masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment.
Aside from the sound monitors, the ICU was silent. Patients with COVID-19 are very sedated and behind closed doors. Outside their rooms there are poles covered with IV bags, the tubes go through a crack in the door so nurses can change them without exposing themselves to the virus.
Beds outside the unit can be upgraded to ICU-level care by adding monitors and life support machines, said Martin Johnson, ICU medical director. A rapid response team consisting of an ICU nurse and an ICU-level respiratory therapist provide ancillary support, he said, and stressed that the hospital can still accommodate patients.
After conferring the medical status of each patient, the members of the ICU team, who have spent a year and a half trying to keep the patients with COVID-19 alive, stand in a circle, sometimes holding hands. and try to find positive things to say.
“Sometimes it’s about,‘ Your oxygen needs are lower or the fever is gone, ’” Johnson said. “Other times, it’s ‘The patient opened my eyes and shook my hand.’
When there are no improvements, staff will express gratitude to each other or for the support of patients ’relatives.
Oregon’s first success against the virus may have helped fuel the state of the delta variant, as aggressive measures to curb the first wave left many population pockets without immunity. And while approximately 72% of adults across the state are vaccinated at least partially, that number is down to less than 50% in 10 of Oregon’s 36 counties.
Oregon’s low level of immunity, given previous infection rates and the number of unvaccinated people, creates a high risk of new infections, said Renee Edwards, chief physician at Oregon Health & Science University. Portland.
Appreciating the problem: Oregon has, along with Washington state, the lowest per capita supply of hospital beds in the country. The two states have only 1.7 beds per 1,000 inhabitants, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on national health issues. South Dakota ranks first, with 4.8 beds per 1,000.
It will be a race against the clock to see if Oregon’s health care system can withstand the current hike before it relaxes. Oregon Health & Science University predicts the maximum will be Sept. 7.
___ Cline was reported from Portland, Oregon. Cline is a member of the body of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit services program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.