OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington hospital officials continue to sound the alarm over the surging number of COVID-19 cases and the stress it’s putting on the health care system.
The Washington State Hospital Association CEO Cassie Sauer says they’re still setting new records for numbers of patients.
“There are, as of this morning, 1,570 COVID positive hospitalized patients,” says Sauer. “That is multiple large hospitals. If you just took a hospital and filled it with COVID that would be multiple of our largest hospitals in the state full completely of COVID patients. This is enormous stress on the healthcare system.”
She says they’ve never seen a situation like this where so many people are hospitalized with the same illness at the same time.
Dr. Mark Johnson of Wenatchee says they’re seeing a wide range of ages in the hospital, with some patients in their early 20’s.
Swedish Health Director of Women’s health Dr. Tanya Sorensen says the delta variant is causing more premature births.
“When our patients get really sick, it’s pretty common to need to deliver them and it’s usually by emergency C-section and sometimes even in the Intensive Care Unit,” says Sorenson. “And the reason for that is either the babies are getting distressed because their mothers are so ill or that we need to deliver the baby to help improve the mother’s breathing.”
She says pregnant women are less likely to be vaccinated.
PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center posts that they are currently treating 39 COVID patients, a new record for Bellingham’s hospital.