Wenderson Cerisene, 7, on the right, and her sister Dorah, 9, are expected to take the COVID-19 test Tuesday in North Miami, Florida. Florida schools are seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases forcing students and teachers to quarantine. (Marta Lavandier, Associated Press)
MISSION, Kansas – Rising COVID-19 expands oxygen supplies and sends hospitals looking for more fans, though there are signs of hope that the spread of the virus will slow in U.S. pockets
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a hospital recently called 911 after arriving within hours of running out of oxygen because they needed an emergency transfer for a patient with high-flow oxygen. The hospital received a referral later that day, but the experience was a warning to other hospitals, said Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe, the chief medical officer of the emergency medical services system that serves Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
“If you can go to a hospital, you can go to any hospital,” Goodloe said. “No,” this is going on over there. “Here’s a heartbeat.”
Lack of oxygen is another sign of the toll that the summer resurgence of COVID-19 has taken over the nation’s hospital system. A handful of states, including Florida, Oregon, Hawaii, Mississippi and Louisiana, have set pandemic records for the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and many hospitals have dangerously understaffed and intensive care beds.
However, there is good news.
The country averages 155,000 new infections a day, but the trajectory of the case load has slowed sharply since early August.
Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi experienced slight declines in cases over the past two weeks. Florida has experienced a decline in COVID-19 revenue in recent days, as have hospitals in Springfield, Missouri, an early epicenter of the increase driven by the delta variant.
The number of vaccines is also increasing and White House Coordinator COVID-19 Jeff Zients has accredited vaccine mandates that have been implemented across the country, including restaurants, workplaces, sports stadiums and schools.
“It’s important to note that we’ve accelerated the pace of the first shots. In August, we got more than 14 million. That’s almost 4 million more first shots in August compared to the previous month in July,” Zients said. Tuesday.
But the numbers haven’t changed much in a week since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approved Pfizer for its vaccine after reviewing six months of safety data. The seven-day average of vaccine doses administered in the United States rose to 898,000 on Monday, from 853,000 a week earlier.
Deaths are also rising, averaging more than 1,300 a day, in what health officials have predicted as a result of the massive increase in cases and hospitalizations over the past month.
Georgia and Oklahoma have emerged as new spots where hospital and state leaders are alarming about the lack of capacity and supplies.
COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are on the verge of overcoming January peaks in Georgia, as hospitals on Monday worried that the delta variant of respiratory disease threatens to suck up some Georgia hospitals with medical oxygen, a key treatment for people struggling to breathe.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order to summon up to 1,500 more National Guard soldiers to help understaffed hospitals with non-medical jobs, in addition to the 1,000 previously authorized.
The Augusta University Medical Center has commissioned 12 more fans to cope with the rise. The hospital treated 122 COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, raising its overall census to 501 patients.
The number of patients with COVID-19 remains approximately 20 below the levels of winter hypertension, but the hospital has been distorting the transfers because it also works through an accumulation of patients who postpone care to the height of the pandemic, said Dr. Phillip Coule, chief physician.
“We’re seeing how our ventilator uses up close,” he said, noting that more of his patients need high-flow oxygen and other treatments that sometimes lead them to ventilators. “We care.”
With oxygen supply, part of the problem is that hospitals have found success in treating coronavirus patients with high-flow oxygen tubes. But the method uses up to three times more oxygen than the treatment methods previously used in the pandemic, said Andy Brailo, director of clients for Premier, a group supply buyer for hospitals.
Accompany it with trouble finding enough drivers with the necessary certifications of hazardous material to supply oxygen to the most affected hospitals and supplies are tighter than ever. Some hospitals have arrived within a day or two of exhaustion. Others have resorted to using safety tanks that are normally only used when the main tank is being filled.
In Orlando, residents have been asked to stop watering lawns and washing cars due to lack of oxygen. This is because Orlando treats the city’s water with liquid oxygen and supplies that usually go towards water treatment have been diverted to hospitals.
Brailo said the oxygen problem has been particularly acute in Florida. He said he has recently heard of problems in Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas as well.
“Hospitals have started to think if we go out, what options should we take?” Brailo said. “In some cases, that can mean having to move patients. And that can mean going to much more invasive ways to make sure those patients are oxygenated.”
Dr. Ryan Stanton, an emergency physician in Lexington, Kentucky who has treated dozens of patients with COVID-19, said doctors began discussing whether multiple people could be placed on a single ventilator over the past few years. days in private Facebook groups. He said so far no doctor has said he tried.
“It’s just a sign that you’re at this critical breaking point,” he said of the discussion.