Southwest Missouri COVID update: Major hospitals are treating almost 300 patients

As coronavirus cases continue to rise in southwest Missouri, the two leading health systems in the region reported that the number of COVID-19 patients in their hospitals amounted to almost 300 as of Tuesday afternoon.

Steve Edwards, CEO of CoxHealth in Springfield, and Erik Frederick, chief administrative officer at Mercy Springfield, updated the community via Twitter on the number of COVID-19 patients their staff was treating.

Edwards wrote that CoxHealth was treating 157 virus patients, up from 147 last Tuesday. CoxHealth saw 75 COVID deaths in July, and 19 since Friday, he wrote.

Mercy Springfield had 137 patients as of Tuesday, which was nine fewer than they had last week. Frederick wrote Monday that the number was down because of patient deaths.

COVID hospitalizations

Both leaders have been expressing their concerns over the increase of hospitalizations from the virus in the region.

Not only were they worried about preventable deaths from COVID-19, but they are also worried because of the strains these put on the whole health system.

At Cox South they were having to use about five times the amount of oxygen they would use in normal days, according to Edwards. When the surge in Springfield started, Mercy Hospital had to open a sixth COVID-19 ICU unit. They only needed five of those last year.

“The higher the COVID census the more strain on non-COVID resources,” Frederick wrote on Twitter last week. “It’s not just about COVID. It’s about the whole system. Together we can change this trajectory. Please vaccinate.”

Vaccination

As Edwards has also been doing on social media, Frederick continued encouraging people to get vaccinated and protect the community. This time, he did it with a Bible verse.

“This is our chance to care for one another,” Frederick wrote. “Those we love. Those we know. Those we disagree with. Those we don’t like. “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Over the weekend there were 27 deaths from coronavirus at the two health systems. Fifteen were at CoxHealth— none of the patients had been vaccinated— and twelve were at Mercy.

“I know there are questions about those who have died,” Frederick wrote Monday on Twitter. “I don’t want to diminish the impact of a single death with statistics. Suffice it to say a large majority are unvaccinated and should be with their families right now. 1 preventable death is 1 too many.”