MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Signs of the spike in COVID-19 cases are surfacing
throughout the state including the state’s largest hospital system.
Albert Wright, president and CEO of WVU Medicine, said the increases are
widespread.
“In our owned and managed hospitals, we’ve got about 170
patients and about one-third of those in intensive care units,” Wright said
Wednesday during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.” “It’s creeping up
everywhere.”
Hospital administrators are struggling with having
in-patient bed capacity and staff to manage the care as infections spread into
the pool of healthcare workers, Wright said.
“Today, just in Morgantown
alone we’ve got over 144 staff that are active with the virus or in quarantine
and 13 of those are physicians,” he said.
Elective procedures continue
since being reinstated at the end of May, but some changes are being made to
ensure safety and preserve beds.
“We didn’t cancel any in-patient
surgeries, but we’re trying to put off in-patient surgeries that are not urgent
or emergent. So, we’ve asked some of our surgeons to look at maybe spine
surgeries that could be done at later time, let’s not schedule those,” Wright
said.
Over the last week at least 800 new COVID-19 cases a day have been
added statewide. Wright said those new case numbers likely mean continued
increases in hospitalizations, more infections within the staff and surge in
clinical needs. He said WVU Medicine is looking at surge plans and
contingencies.
“Some of our clinical staff that don’t work in clinical
areas, so maybe a nurse that works in quality or case management,” Wright said.
“We’re looking at if we need to pull them back into clinical care at some point,
dusting those folks off and having them ready- hospitals can’t close.
Wright said if the surge does overwhelm their ability to respond, an
approach they could employ is repurposing a larger area within the hospital as a
ward.
“Fifty-five or sixty beds separated by curtains so you can watch
the broader population, that’s not the way we do medicine in America in 2020,”
Wright said. “But, that’s what you have to do if you get the point that you are
overwhelmed which is what we’re trying to avoid.”