Dr. Brandon Webb, an infectious disease doctor at Intermountain Healthcare, speaks during a question and answer session on Friday. He said the bed space of the intensive care unit is 100% throughout the health care provider’s hospital system. (Intermountain Health Care)
Update: The Utah Department of Health reported Friday the following update to COVID-19 in the state:
- 1,286 new cases
- 8 dead
- 7,881 vaccines administered
The seven-day continuous average of positive cases in the state is now 1,176.
MURRAY: Officials at Utah’s largest health care provider say bed space in all of its intensive care units has reached 100%.
The number of ICU beds needed, statewide, as a result of widespread COVID-19 transmission, is also falling back to the highest levels since winter.
“It’s full and then there’s beyond,” said Dr. Brandon Webb, an infectious disease doctor with Intermountain Healthcare, who added that the health care provider prefers to keep the space at about 80 percent of capacity, leaving enough space in case patients with critical trauma need to be treated, which almost always happens unexpectedly.
“When we exceed 80%, we are beyond the full,” he said, during an online question and answer session on Friday. “So what we’re experiencing right now is capacities in excess of 80%: our volumes exceed 100% in the entire Intermountain system.”
Webb said the percentage is based on the Intermountain collective health system and not a specific hospital. Patients can be “strategically” transferred to Intermountain hospitals to keep the beds open in certain hospitals, but the current situation means that the emergency beds that doctors prefer to see open are now full.
He has complicated medical care, but that doesn’t mean people are rejecting him right now.
“Fortunately, right now we are not in a position where we have to choose patients or send them by their own transportation to find a bed for them,” Webb said. “We are not and do not expect to be in a position where we take people away. If you need care, we recommend that you go to the nearest hospital and we have the full expectation that we will be able to provide good care there.”
What is filling the ICU?
The growing problems at Intermountain Healthcare are not exactly unique compared to other health care providers in the state.
There are 185 people in ICU beds as a result of COVID-19, the Utah Department of Health reported Thursday. Department data show 91% of ICU beds in referral centers and 89% of ICU beds statewide are full, as a result of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 reasons. About a third of ICU hospitalizations are due to COVID-19 in both referral centers and hospitals across the state, which is the highest since January.
In total, 463 Utahns are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19. The current number of COVID-19 hospitalizations exceeded 450 this week for the first time since late January, according to data from the state health department. COVID-19 hospitalizations had dropped below 150 daily for most of May and through June before starting to rise again in mid-June.
Webb said there are some trends that remain the same as in January, such as those who are obese, have high blood pressure and have other health conditions more likely to be hospitalized. There are also some new trends compared to January. For example, Webb said colleagues at Children’s Primary Hospital have said they see more cases of COVID-19 involving children and that the average age of adult cases is declining, which means that there are younger Utahns hospitalized as a result of the spread of COVID-19.
The delta variant is believed to be one of the reasons for the change in cases.
“We’re seeing some cases that are amazing: people who would look healthy and suffer from severe COVID,” he said. “This is not the most common scenario, but it is happening and when it is, it is another reminder that the delta is different. Delta is simply a different disease in a way than the previous variants.”
There are also other factors that lead to the high number of ICU beds outside of COVID-19.
Car accidents are one of the non-coronavirus factors. The Utah Department of Public Safety’s Zero Fatalities program reports that the number of vehicle accidents increases by 27% and the number of fatal accidents increases by 11% in 2021 through Thursday, compared to the same period last year. last year. It also reports that there have been 1,014 serious injuries as a result of road crashes in Utah this year, which is only 530 less than in all of 2020, with the remainder a third of the year.
“We continue to have trauma and accidents in the community,” Webb said. “People go out doing things. It’s on the roads a lot more than last year, so unfortunately our care in the non-VOCID ICU for a wide variety of medical conditions still has a big volume. And in addition, our COVID numbers have increased, so we have a mixed demand in our ICUs that is creating a significant burden. “
The struggle to add ICU beds
Meanwhile, Intermountain Healthcare and other healthcare providers are facing another problem: they are struggling to add more ICU beds. During the winter, hospitals converted non-ICU beds to ICU beds to cope with the increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Webb said there is also a shortage of nurses, doctors and other employees needed to care for the increasing number of patients.
“We have lost many people who have actually retired from health care and it is very difficult for us to occupy these positions,” he said, explaining that many of the retirements are the result of the physical and mental toll of the last 18 years. months. “That’s the reality. We have the physical space, but we don’t have staff like we did last winter.”
This story will be updated.