Alaska’s COVID-19 hospitalizations exceed 200 as health care facilities take advantage of the worst

More than 200 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alaska, setting one more record while health leaders sound terrible warnings and say state hospitals are stepping on water.

Until Thursday, hospitals and ICUs across the state continued to report that they were on point or almost as a climb driven by the highly contagious delta variant in Alaska was achieved. Facilities have reported that staff shortages and limited bed capacity are their main concern and say they do not know how long they can continue to operate under such high levels of stress.

“Emergency departments remain open for life-saving emergency treatments, but they are very tight,” Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief physician, said during a call to reporters.

Alaska’s health leaders have begun talks with providers in other states, including northern Idaho, who this week released crisis care standards, a tool that “allows clinicians to think about how they can do the most good.” for most people ”with limited resources, Zink explained.

Crisis care standards are considered a last resort because they often require health care providers to make difficult decisions about how to rationize care and Alaska is doing everything possible to avoid that scenario, Zink and others said Thursday.

“Every day we are working out a new plan,” said Dr. Mishelle Nace, a Fairbanks doctor who described a changing approach to providing care even with limited resources. “Every day, we’re seeing, where we need help, where we can put people, where we can give more need where it’s needed.”

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Anchorage hospitals are especially full right now, said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska Resident Hospitals and Residents Association, and that puts pressure on peripheral hospitals. COVID-19 hospitals have been particularly affected by hospitals such as the Mat-Su Regional in Palmer, the Central Peninsula in Soldotna and the Fairbanks Memorial.

The ability to move patients from rural areas to those peripheral hospitals while Anchorage remains full is significantly reduced, if not depleted, he said.

“The window to be able to move to a higher level of care is getting smaller and smaller,” Kosin said.

As the rise continues, Kosin said the health care system will not collapse and patients will not be sidelined, but said care will end up being rationed and prioritized if the state continues on its current path.

“And this is the most terrifying of all scenarios, because then you put medical professionals in the position of having to make the most difficult decisions that can be made to anyone. … Everything is going in that direction. Whether we finally get there or not is yet to be determined, “said Kosin.

The latest hospital count showed a new record of 206 people hospitalized with confirmed cases of the virus statewide, including 29 people with ventilators. In Mat-Su, nearly half of hospitalizations were coronavirus-related, and in Fairbanks, about a third were linked to COVID-19, according to state data.

The latest count exceeds the 197 reported Thursday and more than double what it was about a month ago when Alaska hospital leaders sounded an alarm about the potential impact of the delta variant on a system. limited health.

Hospitals say these figures are an underestimation of the true impact of COVID-19, as they do not include some long-term COVID-19 patients who no longer test positive, but who still need hospital care.

The state’s overall hospital capacity went into peak state for the first time on Thursday after several state hospitals continued to report extremely high volumes of positive COVID and non-COVID patients.

According to the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services scorecard, the state also reported another 846 new cases of the virus on Thursday, 809 affecting Alaska and 37 among nonresidents. Thursday’s new total case marks the second-highest count of a day reported by Alaska so far and follows the similar count of 841 cases on Wednesday.

“The difference is the delta and how quickly you can move from one person to another,” Zink said.

Even with cases and hospitalizations showing few signs of slowing down, leaders in the cities of Anchorage, where the level of virus spread often influences COVID-19 trends across the state, have declined to take action. stricter pandemic mitigation. In an interview this week, Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson he said he will not ask residents to get vaccinated, to issue a mask warrant or order other COVID-19 restrictions, considering the idea of ​​a mask warrant “very inappropriate.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy said this week that he would not declare a statewide COVID-19 disaster, although he has proposed two alternative bills that could help get more resources in the state.

The vaccination rate against COVID-19 in Alaska has been slowly increasing after months of absorption at the heights. Zink said more vaccines were given in August than in July.

Last winter, when COVID-19 vaccines first became available, Alaska led the nation in per capita-administered shots. By summer, the state had fallen behind.

To date, 56% of all Alaskans 12 years of age or older are considered fully vaccinated and 61.5% have received at least one dose.

No new coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Thursday. In all, 442 Alaska and 14 non-residents have died from complications of the virus since the pandemic first hit Alaska in March 2020.

The average positivity rate of the seven-day state test (positive tests on the total performed) was 8.8%, the almost all-time high. Health officials say anything above 5% indicates the need for more tests.

This is a developing story. Please check for updates again.