CoxHealth Treats Record Number of COVID-19 Patients, CEO Says Hospitalizations May Stabilize Over Next Week

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – CoxHealth is treating 182 COVID-19 patients at its sites ahead of the weekend, which marks a new record since the start of the pandemic.

The new record comes after weeks of increasing cases in Springfield and the southwestern Missouri area. New cases of COVID-19 in Greene County fell 19% from the previous seven days, according to public health data. However, the county is also reporting a seven-day moving average of 181 new cases, numbers comparable to January 2021.

Steve Edwards, president and CEO of the healthcare system, said CoxHealth was treating 28 patients about eight weeks ago. CoxHealth sites also reported 446 deaths around this time. Since then, the health system has reported more than 100 new deaths from COVID-19 at its sites.

Edwards predicts CoxHealth’s numbers ahead of the weekend to be in the middle of the range for what their hospitals could see over the next seven days.

“Part of the factor we used to predict is a new rolling case over seven days. That stabilizes some of them, ”Edwards said at a press conference on Friday. “This causes our projections to level out. We’re still bracing for the possibility of being well above 200, but at this point our projections call for a leveling off from where we are. “

Edwards says CoxHealth’s projections could change due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant. He says hospitals are prepared for more patients, but space is really tight right now.

Just two days ago, agencies in Springfield withdrew a request to the state for another care site, intended to help with an overflow of patients seeking hospital care for COVID-19.

Katie Towns, director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said the alternative care site was no longer an immediate need due to actions taken by local hospitals after weeks of increasing cases. The state has also provided resources, such as ambulance response teams and COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment sites, to help southwest Missouri with its COVID-19 situation.

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