Beshear: COVID-19 surge means KY will ‘be out of hospital capacity very, very soon’
Desperate to slow the worsening spread of COVID-19 in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear warned that the state is at a critical point with hospital capacity and staffing.
Referencing states to the south, including Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, where hospitals have run out of capacity and resources, Beshear said Kentucky faces a similar fate.
“To our south, where it always starts, where we can see our future, we are continuing to see state after state not only get very low, but completely run out of [intensive care unit] beds,” Beshear said at the state Capitol. “In Kentucky, our hospital capacity, really the capacity that we have based on the staffing that we have, is reaching a critical point. We are going to be out of hospital capacity very, very soon.”
The governor said 21 hospitals across the commonwealth now face “critical staffing shortages,” as the number of new cases and rate of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus continues to rise. To “allow for additional help,” Beshear said he signed an order on Wednesday that grants licensed health care providers in other states permission to practice on an emergency basis in Kentucky.
The state has reported seven consecutive weeks of escalating cases, and during that same time, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Kentucky has surged exponentially, filling some hospitals and intensive care units to capacity. On Wednesday, a record 466 coronavirus patients filled Kentucky’s ICUs, and there were 1,658 positive patients hospitalized. Beshear said he expects Kentucky to reach peak hospitalizations next week.
Speaking alongside Beshear on Thursday was Katrina Wood, chief nursing officer at the Medical Center at Bowling Green, who said her hospital “is at capacity. Critical care units are full. We are unable to accept patients from outlying facilities that we normally take.”
Dr. Roger Humphries, who heads the Department of Emergency Medicine at UK HealthCare, said his hospital system’s emergency rooms are full and resources are under a similar strain.
“We’re already having to be more selective than we would like about our capabilities because we’ve run out of certain resources. That’s just a reality,” he said. “It’s already causing tough decisions about capacity and who we can accept.”
On Thursday at UK HealthCare, which includes Good Samaritan and Albert B. Chandler Hospital, was treating 72 patients with coronavirus, including 7 under the age of 18, according to a UK spokeswoman. More than 90% of those 72 are unvaccinated, 31 are in intensive care and 25 are on a ventilator.
To show moral support to the state’s beleaguered health care workers, Beshear also on Thursday declared next week — August 22-28 — as Healthcare Heroes Appreciation Week.
“These are amazing people. They need our help to have the fuel to get through,” he said, reiterating the best way to show gratitude: “Get vaccinated.”
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 1:20 PM.
