Arkansas lacks intensive care beds for COVID patients

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Arkansas ran out of intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients on Tuesday for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said, as an increase in cases continued to overwhelm state hospitals.

The state’s intensive care capacity for COVID patients barely eased hours after Hutchinson’s announcement, with just one hospital in southeast Arkansas showing availability, according to the system. ‘State to coordinate coronavirus patients. Patients with the virus make up about half of the state’s intensive care beds. The number of patients infected with the virus in intensive care units and on ventilators reached a new high in the state on Monday.

“Everyone should know the pressure this places on our hospitals and the need to get vaccinated and how critical our bed space is,” Hutchinson told reporters at a press conference.

Hutchinson said hospitals across the state were working to open more intensive care beds for patients infected with the virus. Arkansas Department of Health chief of staff Renee Mallory said a hospital was planning to open additional beds later Tuesday and possibly later in the week. The Department of Health said on Tuesday that the total number of intensive care beds available in the state had dropped from four to 18.

“For us, it’s much more difficult to coordinate these transfer requests,” said Jeff Tabor, program director for Arkansas COVIDComm, the state’s system for matching COVID-19 patients with hospitals. “Patients during the summer flare are so much sicker than during the winter flare. “

Arkansas ranks fifth in the country for new cases per capita, according to figures compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Arkansas has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with 40% of the state’s population fully vaccinated.

The state reported more than 2,200 new cases of the virus and 45 new deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday. The state reported that 10,950 additional doses of the vaccine had been administered. The number of COVID-19 patients statewide has fallen from 44 to 1,367.

Dr Jose Romero, Secretary of State for Health, said the increase in the number of cases continues to keep the state’s intensive care capacity at a tight level.

“The more beds we open, the more they will be filled,” Romero told reporters.

Baptist Health planned to open 18 additional intensive care beds, including 15 for COVID-19 patients, at its hospitals in Fort Smith and North Little Rock. Greg Crain, president of Metro Baptist, said he hoped to open beds in Fort Smith on Friday and in North Little Rock on August 31.

In a report released earlier Tuesday, public health researchers predict the state’s death toll from COVID-19 will exceed 7,000 by August 30. Arkansas reported on Tuesday that 6,749 people have died from the virus since the start of the pandemic.

“If this prediction holds true, COVID-19 will have killed more Arkansans than all the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries,” according to predictions from the University of Arkansas’ Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health for Science medical.

Researchers also predicted that the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 would increase by 20% through August 30 and 34% through September 14.

“Hospitalizations and patients requiring intensive cases have reached record numbers and put our hospital system in a precarious position,” the report said. The cover of the report featured a photo of a wildfire, a reference to how UAMS researchers described the increase in cases and hospitalizations in the state.

The state’s health department also issued an advisory on Tuesday warning people not to use livestock medicine to try to treat COVID-19. The advisory follows a slight increase in calls to the Arkansas Poison Control Center about people taking ivermectin intended for use in animals or livestock.

The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved ivermectin in humans and animals for certain parasitic worms and for head lice and skin conditions. It has not approved its use in the treatment or prevention of COVID-19 in humans. Some Republican lawmakers in Arkansas have touted the drug as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

The advisory warns that the veterinary formulation of the drug can be highly toxic in humans. Some symptoms associated with ivermectin toxicity are rash, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, neurological disturbances, and potentially serious hepatitis requiring hospitalization.

The Mississippi Department of Health issued a similar warning this week regarding the use of ivermectin.