Gov. Jim Justice acknowledged the possibility that elective surgeries could be paused in West Virginia because of the spike in covid-19 hospitalizations.
If current trends continue, Justice said at the conclusion of a briefing today, that step could be necessary “so people that have injuries and scheduled surgeries that are elective, we may just have to drop that and suspend that for a period of time because our hospitals are being flooded with covid patients.”
The surge of covid-19 is swamping the state’s response in other ways too.
Public Health Officer Ayne Amjad described a significant change to contact tracing in communities, with local health departments now focusing on reaching out to immediate households. She said calls will go out to people who test positive and their family members, who should isolate themselves.
Where local staff would have reached out to a broader group of people in contact with a covid patient over the prior few days, that communication task is now being left to the individual.
“West Virginia is experiencing high rates of community covid transmission and, as a result, it is putting strained resources on the health departments for contact tracing and case investigation,” Amjad said.
Those who test positive would be given guidance to “notify your coworkers, anyone you’ve come into contact with the last two days.”
Amjad continued, “We’re not having enough staff to contact everyone who might be outside of your workforce and things like that. So if you’re positive, we want you to focus on your household and then we’re asking those people to think back the last two days and if they’ve been around people at work or some close contacts to contact those people for us.”
Active covid cases in West Virginia have skyrocketed over the past few weeks, with 19,397 reported today.
A month ago, August 3, the state reported 2,848 cases.
West Virginia has experienced a 92 percent increase in cases per 100,000 over the past 14 days, according to New York Times data. That’s among the highest in the nation.
Hospitalizations from covid have risen accordingly, now up to 714. The all-time pandemic high was 818 on Jan. 5.
Cases requiring admission to the intensive care unit have risen to 206. The high figure for ICU admissions was 219 on Jan. 6.
Today’s number of covid patients requiring a ventilator was 111, an all-time high. The prior high figure for ventilator use was 104 on Jan. 11.
All these numbers have been fueled by spread of the delta variant, considered significantly more contagious than earlier strains.
“The bottom line, West Virginia, is people are going to the hospital faster, they’re sicker and they’re younger,” said Jim Hoyer, who leads the state’s interagency task force.
Hoyer said state officials continue to monitor hospital capacity, including staffing and equipment. He said 82 percent of covid patients admitted to West Virginia hospitals unvaccinated.
“We are hitting a peak in the hospitals in West Virginia that will be a significant challenge to us,” Hoyer said. “We would ask all West Virginians to get vaccinated to help us take the stress off of our doctors, our nurses and our medical staff and the support staff.
“We’re putting significant stress on our hospitals and our healthcare system, and we need to address this now.”
As numbers get worse, he said, “hospitals will have to make decisions about other types of care, and we will do our best as West Virginia to manage that.”
Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in Lewisburg is full, local health officials said at an emergency meeting today.
For now, most hospitals are able to handle the swift increase in covid patients, said Jim Kaufman, president and chief executive of the West Virginia Hospital Association.
“Statewide we still have capacity. However, you’re seeing a lot of stress on individual hospitals,” Kaufman said. “You’re seeing hospitals get a lot of influx to their emergency rooms, to their ICUs, but statewide we’re handling it.”
Kaufman agreed that elective procedures might soon have to be put off.
“We need some flexibility. You may see some individual hospitals delay or defer non-emergency procedures because of the influx of patients. We don’t want to see a statewide ban on this. Every community is being affected a little differently at different times. Working together they’re taking care of this surge. But you may see a deferment of a non-emergency procedure.”
Are hospitals capable of handling this surge in COVID-19? Jim Kaufman, President and CEO of the West Virginia Hospital Association, explains the recent hospital numbers with @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/ef2RZliBuT
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) September 3, 2021