'This is like déjà vu': Local hospitals seeing COVID-19 numbers trending towards winter peak levels

Kimberly Barker, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·4 min read

Jun. 24—Area hospital professionals were optimistic as COVID-19 cases dropped in the region in the spring, but many are now feeling like their hands are tied as local hospitalization rates continue to rise.

Mercy and Freeman health officials held news conferences Wednesday to reflect on the recent climb in COVID-19 hospitalizations, what the public can do to combat community spread and how hospitals are preparing for a post-Independence Day surge.

Eden Esguerra, an infectious disease specialist at Mercy Hospital Joplin, was the first person at Mercy to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. She said that doctors thought they saw the light at the end of the tunnel this spring as cases declined but were mistaken over the last few weeks as hospitalization rates grew.

"This is like déjà vu, although with a different twist to it," Esguerra said during a Zoom conference call. "The first time around, we gave it our all, and we thought we were seeing a reprieve recently. But then it came back with a vengeance."

Mercy Hospital has 33 COVID-19 patients. On Tuesday, the intensive care unit on Mercy's fourth floor was modified into a negative pressure room that can accommodate up to 24 COVID-19 patients on ventilators. Mercy's peak level of hospitalizations was 46 people on Nov. 9.

"We have to do a better job, and what I'd like the public to know is that we are having a public health problem," she said. "I don't think it's a crisis yet, but we should do something so we don't get to that crisis. This is not a medical crisis. This is a public health issue. There's a lot of us who are stakeholders."

Before late May and early June, Mercy Hospital was averaging about three COVID-19 patients in the ICU. Lately, Esguerra said the average is 15 COVID-19 patients in the ICU, which led to the recent modifications to the COVID-19 unit.

"That tells us that our COVID patient population is increasing, so that should be a concern," she said. "Even if we can handle 24 COVID ventilated patients, we are not sure if we can find the staff. They are tired. and we know that mental health is becoming an issue."

Emergency room waiting times at both Mercy and Freeman are becoming longer as more patients are being treated for COVID-19. Esguerra said they're having to prioritize and send some patients back home for a few hours because no beds are available in the ER. She likened it to being back at square one when the outbreak first began.

"This is not where we want to be at this stage of the COVID-19 epidemic," Esguerra said. "There are some areas now where they started worse than us, but they're far better at this stage of the game than where we are at. and that's where we want to be, closer to a normal life, before COVID-19."

Freeman reopened its second COVID-19 unit approximately two weeks ago due to the recent rise in cases after closing in mid-March. The hospital had 41 COVID-19 patients Wednesday.

Dr. Rob McNab, director of Freeman's COVID-19 unit, said there's been a significant surge in cases, which led to its reopening.

"We are now somewhere in the 30s and 40s in our inpatient census, which if you remember back from a few months ago, we had it down into the low teens, so we've seen a significant upsurge over the past few weeks," he said.

An estimated 20.2% of the Jasper County population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from the state COVID-19 dashboard. McNab also said inpatient demographics are changing from older cases to younger ones. About 69% of Freeman's in-patients for COVID-19 are under 60.

"I'm unaware of a single patient that is admitted with COVID right now that is fully vaccinated," McNab said. "To a man and a woman, all of them are either completely unvaccinated or have only gotten halfway through the series (of the vaccine). My interpretation of why we're seeing a much younger crowd down into the 20s and 50s, and more of them, I think really kind of stems from their vaccination status."

Freeman has administered more than 20,000 total doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. With many elderly now vaccinated, Freeman reported a 75% reduction of COVID-19 patients ages 65 and over in May, according to Jessica Liberty, manager of infection prevention and control for Freeman Health System.

McNab said a vast majority of the current COVID-19 patients are relying on oxygen, even though they're younger.

"You don't get to be hospitalized because you have COVID," he said. "You get hospitalized because you need supplemental oxygen and aggressive therapy. If you have vital sign instability, which for most of these patients, they can't get enough oxygen out of the air, then they need a lot of supplemental oxygen. That's going to be what determines whether you get admitted or not."