Hospitals see sharp increase in COVID admissions
Dec. 22—Local hospitals, including Addison Gilbert and Beverly hospitals, have seen a doubling of the number of patients being admitted for COVID-19 and its complications in recent weeks.
Salem Hospital reported having 30 COVID-19 patients, 10 of them in intensive care on Tuesday. This is approximately double the number of patients the hospital had three weeks ago, said spokeswoman Laura Fleming.
The majority of those admitted patients are unvaccinated, she noted.
The influx of COVID patients has put the hospital at 99% capacity of medical and surgical beds, Fleming said.
Jennifer Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for Beth Israel Lahey Health, the parent company of Beverly and Addison Gilbert hospitals, said while it's hard to quantify a typical wait time in an emergency room, all of its hospitals are experiencing increased demand due to the pandemic.
"That said, we want Massachusetts residents to know how important it is to seek the care they need," Rosenberg stressed. "Please do not delay care based on concerns about wait time. Anyone experiencing potentially life-threatening symptoms should go to the emergency room or call 911.
All of the Mass General Brigham acute hospitals, including Salem Hospital, have already reduced non-essential and non-urgent surgeries and other procedures that would normally require an overnight stay, freeing up both beds and staff, Fleming said. The hospitals will continue to reduce the number of those procedures to comply with Gov. Charlie Baker's order to reduce those procedures by 100%, she said.
"Clinical teams, led by physicians and nurses at each hospital, will decide which cases can be safely rescheduled, considering clinical urgency, impact of delay on disease progression, and other factors," Fleming said in an email.
Some non-urgent but needed procedures are also being evaluated to see if they can be done on an outpatient basis, she said. Patients who are otherwise in good health and who have support at home might be scheduled to undergo a procedure earlier in the day so they could be sent home the same day rather than admitted for a night or two.
Fleming said the hospital is also grateful for the assistance of the National Guard, which Baker is activating to assist hospitals in dealing with staffing shortages.
Like their counterparts at Mass General Brigham, the Beth Israel Lahey hospitals are in the process of determining which scheduled or anticipated procedures can safely be postponed. "We're committed to aligning with Governor Baker's updated guidance on postponing all elective procedures that require an inpatient stay provided that there is no harm to the patient," Rosenberg said.
She also encouraged people to get vaccinations and booster shots, wear masks in public indoor settings and get tested prior to holiday gatherings.
Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@gloucestertimes.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis
Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@gloucestertimes.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis
