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CINCINNATI – A growing number of patients at hospitals in the Cincinnati area have COVID-19, which is straining intensive care units and threatening hospital capacity in general, according to the president and CEO of UC Health, the Dr Richard Lofgren.
The southwestern Ohio region – which includes Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont, Clinton, Highland, Brown and Adams counties – has seen an almost 700% increase in hospitalizations in the past 60 days, Lofgren said.
Fewer than 100 people were in regional hospitals with COVID-19 at the end of September. Lofgren said on Wednesday that number rose to more than 750.
Two months ago, about one in 30 people in hospitals in the region had COVID-19. Today, about 1 in 4 people in hospitals are infected with the virus, Lofgren said.
“Sixty days ago … a very small percentage of people in the hospital were actually there because of COVID-19,” Lofgren said. “Now it quickly becomes about a quarter, certainly 20-25%.”
Lofgren said these percentages vary. The intensive care units are the most affected; most of the area’s intensive care units are under stress, Lofgren said.
Although hospitalizations continue to increase, the supply chain for personal protective equipment and ventilators is strong. The real resource crisis in hospitals is the lack of available frontline workers.
“For us, the issue that really drives us and our ability to respond is really the people,” Lofgren said. “And even in this wave, which we have been able to accommodate, we are asking people and nurses, and other doctors and healthcare workers to work overtime or double shifts and stretch in some way. so themselves, and obviously, in some cases, that’s not viable. “
Lofgren said bringing in more healthcare workers from across the country was not a viable option as it was in the spring, as several cities across the country are experiencing the same surge.
Receive COVID-19 vaccine locally
Lofgren said the region was set to receive its first batch of vaccine as early as mid-December. Officials have identified 10 sites across Ohio to begin immunizing healthcare workers.
According to Lofgren, the goal is to distribute some of the vaccine in anticipation of the start of the emergency use authorization in the middle of the month.
Hamilton County Health Commissioner Greg Kesterman said the county was working with the County Emergency Management Agency to deploy the vaccine locally.
The county bought enough refrigerators to hold 65,000 doses of the vaccine, and Kesterman said he was close to installing another unit that could hold double that amount.
The Ohio Department of Health is using flu shots to test how it will distribute the COVID-19 vaccine, WHIO reported.
“The Ohio Department of Health’s vaccine preparation office has been diligently preparing for the vaccine’s arrival for months, distributing adult influenza vaccine with the same process that will be used to distribute COVID-19 as a test exercise, ”ODH said in a statement.
Governor Mike DeWine said on November 24 that he expected about 30,000 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in Ohio “around December 15,” with another batch of Moderna arriving around a week later.
DeWine plans to discuss the Ohio vaccine rollout plan in this briefing Thursday afternoon.
WHIO is a WCPO media partner.
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