CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The CEO of Charleston Area Medical Center said the trend upward in West Virginia’s Rt value, the estimated rate of coronavirus spread, through the middle of and into late October was a concern for health officials.
“We’re planning for another wave (of COVID-19 patients), frankly,” said Dave Ramsey, CEO of CAMC Health System, during an appearance on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
As of Thursday morning, when West Virginia’s Rt value remained above one, Ramsey said the patient numbers were manageable.
He indicated there were 35 COVID-19 patients at CAMC hospital facilities on Oct. 22 which was down from highs of more than 80 COVID-19 patients in the middle of September.
Among employees, Ramsey said around 63 employees were out because of positive COVID-19 tests, ordered quarantines or pending test results.
Just a few weeks ago, that employee number was closer 240.
Staffing challenges, he said, were a factor in CAMC running near capacity with patients who were being treated for all kinds of injuries and illnesses in the past month.
CAMC Health System includes CAMC General Hospital, CAMC Memorial Hospital, CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital and CAMC Teays Valley Hospital.
Patient transfer requests were coming from outside the regular CAMC coverage area.
In some cases, there was no space for requested patient transfers.
“We have them from Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, just areas that traditionally we wouldn’t have gotten calls from that we’re getting calls from now,” Ramsey said.
CAMC CEO Dave Ramsey speaks with @HoppyKercheval about increased caseload and issues with staffing. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/XZZfvJ3mvi
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) October 22, 2020
Other hospitals were receiving some of the same requests.
“A lot of the hospital systems are still playing catch-up and a lot of the patients are from when we kind of slowed things down at the very beginning part of this process,” said Dr. Clay Marsh, vice president and executive dean of health sciences at West Virginia University.
“Now hospitals are relatively full again, not only because of COVID, just because they are catching up a lot of procedures and treatments and people are feeling more comfortable going for their cancer care, etc.”
In Mercer County, specifically, an increase in COVID positive patients was being reported this week at Princeton Community Hospital on Thursday.
On Thursday, West Virginia’s Rt value remained up above one, what analysts said was an indication of virus spread.
Among recent positives after an earlier younger trend, “We’re starting to see older people now be equally as represented in the positive tests as younger people and that is a very concerning sign,” Dr. Marsh said.
“What that means is that we’re seeing COVID now spread into a population of the folks that are at a higher risk of dying.”
WV Covid-19 Czar Dr. @claymarsh speaks with @HoppyKercheval about Covid-19 spread in West Virginia. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/PY8vpRfxZ4
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) October 22, 2020