Mid-Missouri hospitals reaching capacity again

A person walks into the Emergency Department at St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020.
A person walks into the Emergency Department at St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020.

Mid-Missouri health providers see increased COVID-19 numbers, reflecting data that spurred the state to send out an advisory late Friday, naming Cole and Osage counties as COVID-19 hotspots.

The rising numbers haven't caused any changes to policies from the Cole County Health Department, according to Director Kristi Campbell.

"Our case numbers had increased over the last few weeks, and we had already increased our communication with our hospitals and other healthcare providers," she said in an email to the News Tribune. "We have been brainstorming about ways to increase testing, vaccination and education about prevention."

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing at area hospitals.

Jessica Royston, SSM Health's regional manager of marketing and communications, said the advisory itself has not caused St. Mary's Hospital to implement any changes.

But the hospital has updated policies and procedures as needed, based on patient volume and staffing capacity.

"For example, due to the increase in COVID-19 admissions in the past several weeks, we continue to further restrict visitors in order to protect patients and staff," Royston said. "We again implemented Incident Command, and have been meeting daily to monitor capacity, staffing and supplies."

The newspaper reached out to Capital Region Medical Center, but had not received a reply by deadline.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) advisory is nearly identical to advisories sent to other counties - where the COVID-19 severity was or is high or severe based on state averages. Among the first the state issued this summer was an advisory concerning Camden, Miller and Morgan counties, which in part prompted Lake Regional Hospital to issue a statement to the community, warning things were bad and about to get worse.

Since issuing that first advisory, the state has issued eight more, most of which focus on southern Missouri counties. A July 15 advisory included three north/central Missouri counties.

The advisories provide a "Delta Variant Update," which warns delta cases are on the rise in the area.

That variant appears to spread more easily and poses a higher risk of hospitalization than other strains. Social distancing, mask-wearing, hand washing and other precautions remain among the best preventive measures for the virus.

And vaccination is a "very effective protection" against the variant, it said.

The percentage of people fully vaccinated in Cole (39.3 percent) and Osage (27.7 percent) counties remains low, the advisory points out.

"In recent weeks, most areas of Missouri have experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations," the advisory said. "The delta variant is the predominant cause."

It explains Cole County has seen 363 new cases over the past 14 days.

"Hospitals in the region are seeing resource strain from dramatically increased numbers of COVID-19 patients and hospitalizations. An average of 178-plus people have been hospitalized in the region over the last week. As a result, several hospitals in the region are at or near capacity," the advisory says.

It warns continued spread of COVID-19 is expected.

St. Mary's Hospital did not see a particular rise in admissions over the past weekend, but volume in July overall is dramatically higher than it was in the spring, Royston said, "and we are nearing surge levels from last fall."

Its highest number of COVID-19 patients was 41 - which occurred Nov. 11.

It saw 36 such patients July 22. Last week, the hospital averaged 30 patients per day.

"Our forecasting model shows we should expect to continue seeing increased admissions over the next six to eight weeks," Royston said. "We receive calls daily from other cities, (including the Springfield area) and other states looking to transfer patients due to capacity issues. We have been unable to accept any of these transfers due to our hospital already being at capacity."

Springfield has been at the heart of a surge in southwest Missouri. Several weeks ago, the Springfield/Greene County Health Department asked for help from the state in easing hospitals' burdens.

On July 22, Gov. Mike Parson announced he was sending ambulance strike teams to assist local hospitals. Since then, those teams have taken 107 patients to hospitals outside the immediate area.

The state also set up a Monoclonal Antibody Infusion Center, which has treated 113 patients in Greene County. It has served patients from Joplin, Branson and Bolivar. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins that help the body fight COVID-19 and reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalization for high-risk patients.

Royston reminds consumers vaccinations are the most effective way of fighting the disease.

Whether Cole County health care providers will become overtaxed remains a question, Campbell said.

"It's hard to predict what the numbers will do," she said. "Vaccinations are increasing, but so is travel and gatherings, so trying to predict what's going to happen is nearly impossible. We hope that the increased education about prevention and the increased vaccinations will have an effect on our case numbers."