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Executives at eight Birmingham hospitals said on Wednesday that COVID patients were filling beds faster than at any other time during the pandemic, raising concerns about staff capacity and burnout as cases increase.
Between 83 and 92 percent of hospital patients have not been fully immunized, according to hospital officials.
“We have seen a 700% increase in COVID cases in our hospitals in the past three weeks alone,” said Dr. Timothy Bode, chief medical officer at Ascension St. Vincent’s. “Our emergency departments are extremely busy and we see a lot of patients there. “
The pace of the increase is faster than that which began last fall and peaked in January, with hospitals treating more than 3,000 patients statewide who were extremely ill with COVID-19. The latest wave is hitting hospitals already occupied by patients admitted for other types of care and struggling with staff shortages.
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At UAB hospital this summer, the number of patients hospitalized for COVID has tripled since early July. This reflects the trend in hospitalizations statewide, which reached 1,736 on Wednesday.
“In October and November 2020, it took us about eight weeks to go from 750 hospitalizations to a total of 1,600,” said Anthony Patterson, CEO of UAB Hospital. “For this current push that we’re in with the delta variant, the push took 10 days to make the same jump in volume.”
Other Birmingham hospitals have seen similar increases.
Jefferson County hospitals admitted 388 new COVID-19 patients in the week to August 1, according to data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the largest number of patients infected with the virus of any county in Alabama. Controlling the population, Jefferson County hospitals admitted about six new patients per 10,000 population, the 10th highest per capita rate in the state during that period.
“Over the past month, we’ve really seen our COVID-related hospitalizations at our facility double about every seven to ten days,” said Dr. Jeremy Rogers, director of clinical services at Grandview Medical Center. “Our volume has increased by over 500% in the past month. “
Hospitals are already moving beds from one department to another to cope with the influx of COVID patients. At UAB Medical West, less than 40% of emergency department beds were available Wednesday because the hospital was using them for COVID patients. Keith Pennington, CEO of Medical West, said 90% of patients hospitalized with the virus are not vaccinated.
The sudden influx of patients has put stress on healthcare workers who have already gone through several waves of COVID-19, executives said. Hospitals are facing this wave with fewer nurses than last year, due to staff departures for higher paying jobs and new careers.
“They’re stressed out,” Pennington said. “Just when we thought things were getting better, we see it almost worse than it was or getting there.”
Patients in the current wave are younger than those hospitalized last winter, they said. Patterson said a lower share of patients in the current wave have required intensive care, but many still fall extremely ill with COVID-19 and require respiratory assistance. Some hospital officials have reported critically ill patients in their late teens and early 20s.
“The demographics are a little different,” said Dr. Elizabeth Ennis, chief medical officer at Brookwood Baptist Health. “They are younger. They have fewer co-morbidities and we are suffering tragic losses in age groups that we just haven’t seen before. “
The number of COVID-positive patients has also increased at the children’s hospital, CEO Tom Shufflebarger said. Few patients need treatment for the virus, but it is still straining the hospital, which must isolate these children.
“Yesterday we had 14 patients while last month it was down to four or five,” Shufflebarger said. “The majority of these kids test positive when they’re here for something else. Only a few of them are really being treated here as patients hospitalized for symptoms of COVID. When they’re here for appendicitis or some other problem, we test them and find them positive. “
All hospital executives have encouraged vaccinations to prevent severe COVIDs. The percentage of unvaccinated people in COVID units ranged from 83% at UAB to 92% in Grandview.
No hospital in the Birmingham area has announced plans to reduce or end elective procedures, but officials said they will closely monitor COVID cases to determine if it may be necessary.
“When you are in the midst of a pandemic, you need to realize that everything is on the table and you need to take this into account to run your hospitals efficiently and safely,” Bode said. “We’re not there now. I am worried about the rapid increase we are all seeing in the near future.
If the current wave does not peak soon, the number of hospitalizations could climb to 7,000 statewide, according to UAB modeling. Hospital officials said vaccinations, along with masks and social distancing, could help prevent the worst-case scenario.
“The best of times is obviously to get people vaccinated and for people to think about not only taking care of themselves, but, very importantly, in a very philanthropic and religious state, about taking care of others,” said Ennis.
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