Critically Ill Patients Transferred Out Of County Due To COVID Cases And Staffing Shortages At Local Hospitals | Lost Coast Outpost

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Humboldt County Health Officer Dr Ian Hoffman. | Screenshot of Tuesday’s supervisory board meeting.

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Local hospitals have been inundated with new COVID-19 patients and healthcare workers are now in “severe distress and strain,” Humboldt County health official Dr Ian Hoffman said on Tuesday. to the supervisory board.

“Many critically ill residents have been moved out of the county due to lack of bed space in our local intensive care units,” he said in his latest pandemic update. He went on to explain that the real problem is not so much the lack of beds as the lack of sufficient hospital staff.

Plans to increase staffing levels at local hospitals were implemented weeks ago, but they haven’t really succeeded – in large part, Hoffman suggested, because phased hospital staffing is a problem. across the state and across the country.

“In fact, we just heard last night about our ability to recruit staff to increase the number of intensive care beds, so that should really help,” he said.

Intensive care units have been at or near full capacity for the past two weeks, with more than half of the beds occupied by COVID patients. This has led hospitals to cancel surgeries deemed elective, although they may be seriously needed by community members – “things like heart surgeries, cancer surgeries. [and] joint and back surgeries, “which could be delayed for several weeks or months, Hoffman said.

Meanwhile, many COVID patients who now occupy hospital beds are younger than what we’ve seen at this point in the pandemic, “likely since this group has the lowest vaccination rate in our county,” Hoffman said.

Overall, there are signs the county could plateau – albeit high – in the new cases.

“For the first time in more than a month, the number of cases per 100,000 [residents] doesn’t continue to increase at dramatic rates week after week, ”Hoffman said.

The county health officer called out the above graph, first released on Friday, which shows the weekly number of cases among unvaccinated people in Humboldt County has reached 73 per 100,000 as the Rates among those vaccinated fell to just 18 per 100,000. According to Hoffman, about 90 percent of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 were not vaccinated.

This is the first drop we’ve seen since the start of the Delta-fueled outbreak, and Hoffman noted that the drop coincides with the mask’s tenure date, suggesting that people who have followed public health advice see lower case rates.

County public health officials echo the message consistently disseminated by their colleagues across the country that immunization for anyone 12 years of age and older remains the best tool to prevent new infections and thus keep them down. schools and businesses open while reducing impacts on hospitals.

With the Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, the low rate of new vaccinations in the county could start to rise, Hoffman theorized. California recently implemented a vaccination mandate for healthcare workers and mandates for vaccines or regular testing for school staff and employees of state agencies.

Vaccine doses remain widely available, but the county’s testing capacity was strained in the latest wave.

“It is expected that testing with rapid tests will have to expand in the coming weeks, both in businesses, schools and in healthcare. [settings]”through a state-based testing partnership,” Hoffman said.

After the presentation, Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell asked if children in school really need to wear masks if they are outside during recess. Hoffman said if they are able to maintain the recommended six feet of social distancing, it is not necessary, although he noted that most children enjoy playing together during recess. Bushnell countered that a school in SoHum only has 30 students in total and eight per class, which makes it easier to distance themselves.

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone said that while he believes vaccinations are “the way forward”, he thinks the county should broaden its approach to reach out to vaccine hesitants, eventually. adopting the use of monoclonal antibody therapy.

Hoffman noted that such treatment requires an infusion that takes several hours, as well as monitoring, which requires both space and hospital staff – both of which are rare. Providence-St. Joseph Hospital has a plan to start implementing treatment, which has been shown to be effective in treating the early stages of the virus, but labor-intensive treatments work best for people with severe conditions. mild symptoms or no symptoms and which have not yet been recognized. the hospital, Hoffman said.

Fourth District Supervisor and Board Chair Virginia Bass said irresponsible people – that is, the unvaxxed and / or unmasked – “unintentionally harm small businesses” by exposing the employees to infection. And of the Humboldt County Fair, which was held despite the recent spike in cases, Bass said, “Personally, I didn’t get close to the fair. I think it was the worst idea.

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said the current number of hospitalizations and cases is “appalling,” and he objected to the frequent claim that the only people COVID is killing are those who were already sick and old. “These were people who were alive and not alive now, and the main factor was COVID,” he said.

Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson said he was troubled to learn that residents had fallen in love with claims that COVID could be treated with ivermectin, a drug often used to deworm livestock.

As if to prove his point, a local man called during the public comment period to complain that people had to buy ivermectin from farm supply stores because government officials are paid to promote the vaccine. . Another falsely claimed that 1,200 people had died from the vaccine and that the tests were not effective.

A third appellant expressed frustration at such unfounded statements. “The people of disinformation are harming us, harming our community,” she said. “We have to treat it like the big problem it is.”



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