COVID-19 cases are spiking across Alaska and Central Peninsula Hospital continues to see increasing numbers of inpatients with coronavirus-like symptoms. Visitation continues to be curtailed after a July 27th announcement was made in order to protect patients, families and staff.
Bruce Richards, Central Peninsula Hospital’s External Affairs Director said:
“The numbers have been increasing. The number of inpatients we’ve had as of last evening was 20 COVID inpatients. It has been rising. That’s the highest number we’ve seen since the pandemic started. We did spike to 16 folks back in November and December and then, it started to taper off and then started picking back up again in July with this current wave that we’re in and now we’ve reached 20 inpatients. Yeah, the hospital is very busy. It’s very busy. I hope people will take the time to be cautious and careful and protect themselves from the virus either by getting a vaccine or social distancing or wearing masks when appropriate.”
Richards also says:
“The ICU is full. The emergency room has, at times, had to hold over patients waiting to be admitted. The overflow unit is open. It’s not up and running. It’s ready, should we need it, at this point.”
Have surgeries had to be put on hold?
“Not yet. They’ve had a lot of surgeries that were outpatient surgeries so people would come in and have their procedures and go home. We have had a few inpatient surgeries and there has been room for those, but at this time we haven’t had to curtail those because of the higher number of outpatients surging.”
Richards says that the hospital is preparing for additional cases coming in. He said half of the hospital beds are COVID inpatients. He stresses the importance of getting vaccinated now that Pfizer has been fully approved by the FDA.