MS on the verge of ‘crisis’ as ICU beds fill up and COVID-19 cases surge, Dobbs warns
Armed with grim ICU statistics after a record-breaking day for coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Mississippi, Dr. Thomas Dobbs warned residents that COVID-19 could overwhelm the state’s healthcare system if people don’t follow social distancing guidelines.
The state health department announced its biggest single-day coronavirus case load on Monday at 1,251 — the fifth time in the last six days that the state has announced over 1,000 new cases.
“As you’ve noticed, we’ve had quite the run of days over 1,000. We see no likely let up in that for the near future,” Dobbs, the State Health Officer, said. “Any interventions taking place now will take weeks before any benefit is noted.”
The state set a new mark Monday morning with the number of confirmed cases in Mississippi hospitals at 909. By the time Dobbs walked into Monday’s afternoon press conference with Gov. Tate Reeves, that number had climbed to 943.
On June 27, that number stood at 490.
Also, coronavirus patients in intensive had risen from Monday morning’s total of 278 to 293.
“About 40 percent of all of our ICU cases have coronavirus,” Dobbs said. “That’s a phenomenal number and it continues to grow. Friday, it was only 31 percent.
“We’re on the verge of pushing our system over its capacity. In large measure, we’re already there.”
An increasing lack in ICU space has required patients to be shipped to other states. Dobbs said Monday that one coronavirus patient had to be sent to Missouri.
“The number of (Mississippi) hospitals that have zero ICU beds stands at nine,” he said. “If we look at the ICU beds in the four largest hospitals in the Jackson metro area, there is one ICU bed currently available. We’re very tight.”
Seeking more compliance from MS hospitals
Some private labs have been overwhelmed by test submissions, forcing some patients to wait a week or longer to determine if they have the coronavirus, according to Dobbs.
Even though case numbers have climbed dramatically, it appears that the state’s health department is not getting full cooperation from all of its hospitals and clinics.
Dobbs took his opportunity at the microphone to ask one urgent care company in the state to begin sharing all of its testing results with the state health department.
“I have verified that a large independent urgent care chain in the Jackson area and other parts of Mississippi is not reporting all of its antigen tests,” he said. “Even though you’re seeing large numbers of cases, that’s not representing all of our positives. It is mandated by law that you report cases to the department of health so we can investigate them.”
Dobbs and Reeves are also asking that all hospitals meet the requirement that capacity be increased by 10%.
“The 10% is going to be enforced,” Reeves said. “We are going to cut off elective surgeries for those hospitals that choose not to comply. As Dr. Dobbs has said, things improved last week. We’ve seen more compliance and we’re pleased with that. We’re going to ensure that 10 percent is enforced.”
Mississippi hospitals close to being overwhelmed
Even if hospitals meet the surge standard, Dobbs fears that may soon not be enough.
“Within maybe two weeks or so we anticipate that we would exhaust our surge capacity,” he said. “We’re looking at other options beyond that. We may be have crisis standards of care within the next several weeks if not we’re careful.
Dobbs said hospital crisis mode can meet putting patients in open wards, doubling up rooms and housing people where they wouldn’t normally stay for medical care.
“If we don’t see a decrease in transmission immediately, then it’s pretty likely that our health care system will be thoroughly overwhelmed,” he said.
“I know sometimes it seems like I’m doomsday,” he said. “But how many weeks ago did we say have a bunch of hospitalizations? How many weeks ago did we say we’d have more deaths? How many weeks ago did we say we’d run out of ICUs? It’s happening. We’re taking care of ICU patients in emergency rooms every day. We’ve converted our emergency rooms into makeshift ICUs.”
