Kentucky hospitals sound the alarm as beds fill with younger COVID-19 patients
Some Kentucky hospitals have started to reach capacity in their COVID-19 units and many have begun canceling elective surgeries, health care system administrators said Thursday as they begged people to get vaccinated.
At King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Dr. Stacy Caudill, chief medical director, said the Eastern Kentucky hospital has 48 admitted coronavirus patients. The hospital’s current COVID-19 intensive care unit is full, she said.
“Our [COVID-19] ICU is currently full, and we’ve opened a fourth covid unit,” said Caudill.
During the hospital system’s initial winter surge, there were 90 positive patients spread across five COVID-19 units and the positivity rate across the hospital system reached 16% — the highest so far during the pandemic. On Wednesday, the positivity rate hit 14%, she said. During the month of August, King’s Daughters has already admitted more patients than the month of July. Patient ages are also skewing younger, Caudill said.
“Whereas before, when our positivity rate was 16%, 12-13% of [patients] were pediatric patients,” she said. Now, 25% of patients are kids, she said, adding that the average age of patients admitted with coronavirus dropped from around 75 in the winter to 55 today.
Of the hospital system’s admitted coronavirus patients, 94% are unvaccinated and 100% of those in intensive care are unvaccinated, she said.
In Morehead, St. Claire Healthcare is in the process of opening a “surge intensive care unit” to supplement the hospital’s existing ICU to treat COVID-19 patients, because it’s full
“It’s full with a lot of [COVID-19] patients, and we need more room,” said Dr. William Melahn, chief medical officer of St. Claire. “I think I’m speaking for all the hospitals across the state when I say we’re worn out, but we’re not going to give up.”
Physicians at Kentucky Children’s Hospital announced Thursday that 40% of the children they’ve treated for severe coronavirus infections have been admitted in the last two weeks, an uptick Dr. Sean McTigue, medical director for Pediatric Infection Prevention and Control called “definitely alarming.”
Caudill and Melahn spoke alongside Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday as the governor provided an update on the state of the Delta variant in Kentucky. “We’ve got a whole lot of hospitals that are canceling elective surgeries” to make way for rising numbers of coronavirus patients, Beshear said.
The state announced 2,713 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday and a positivity rate of 11.57%, up from 11.22% on Wednesday. Kentucky is on track to report its seventh consecutive week of rising cases.
Coronavirus hospitalizations are also climbing sharply across the state, rising more than 400% over the last month. On Thursday, 1,371 people were in the hospital with the virus compared with 233 on July 12.
Roughly 52% of the state population is vaccinated. Beshear praised the nearly 5,600 Kentuckians who got a dose in the last 24 hours. “Vaccinations are up. But they’re not up enough,” he said.
To compel more people to get vaccinated, the Kentucky Arts and Heritage Cabinet is launching a new “Vax and Visit KY” initiative to offer in-state travel incentives for vaccinated residents at Kentucky’s state parks. People 18 and older can sign up for a chance to win free golf rounds, overnight lodging at state resort parks and gift certificates for camping at tah.ky.gov.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Kentucky hospitals sound the alarm as beds fill with younger COVID-19 patients."
