Hospitals’ capacity is stretched as second-highest COVID surge bears down

The Sioux Falls area is experiencing its second-highest COVID-19 surge since the pandemic began, local health officials said today.

Both health systems and the city of Sioux Falls held a news conference to update on conditions in the hospitals and encourage vaccination and responsible holiday gathering.

“It’s still very serious. It’s still very much a threat,” said Dr. Charles Chima, the city’s public health director.

At Sanford Health, adult intensive care unit capacity is less than 10 percent daily, said Dr. Michael Wilde, the health system’s vice president medical officer in Sioux Falls.

“We continue to have concerns that as our hospitals fill with COVID-19 patients we will not be able to provide prompt quality care to our patients who are coming in with other medical needs. We’re not unique in this concern. We continue to be called by facilities across the Upper Midwest and across the United States. Many other facilities are in very similar situations.”

On average, 10 percent to 20 percent of patients hospitalized at Sanford are COVID-19 patients who need to be isolated. Another 10 percent to 20 percent are recovering from COVID-19 but can’t go home yet. And another 10 percent are in the hospital because staffing issues are prohibiting them from transitioning to a skilled nursing facility for care.

The impact of vaccination status is clear, Wilde said. Of Sanford’s COVID-19 patients:

• 206 out of 224 patients hospitalized are not vaccinated.
• 67 of 70 patients in the ICU are not vaccinated.
• 48 of 50 patients on ventilators are not vaccinated.

Despite it being one year since vaccine first became available in the state, “we still need help getting the message across that the vaccine plus booster is your best protection against COVID-19,” Wilde said.

Avera Health also has experienced a steady uptick in COVID-19 patients, from around 100 at any given time in October to 150 today, said Dr. David Basel, vice president of clinical quality for Avera Medical Group.

That’s half of last year’s peak, but the health system also is dealing with heart attacks, strokes, influenza and other added pressures that didn’t exist last year, he said.

“This time of year, we’re generally about 90 percent full anyway,” he said. “If you put 150 COVID patients on top of it, that stretches our capacity on a daily basis.”

Avera also is “greatly reducing” non-urgent procedures and rescheduling them into spring, especially if they require an overnight stay, he said.

Of the approximately 7,000 patents Avera has treated for COVID-19, 4,000 of them have come in the past six months, Basel said.

The average age now is around 50, compared with 70 a year ago.

“Last year, it was unusual to admit someone younger than 50, and this year, it’s common to admit people in their 20s and 30s, and we’ve even lost children,” Basel said, adding COVID-19 patients “stay longer than other types of patients. They take a lot more intense use of resources. They’re just sick, sick, sick.”

The omicron variant also is providing to be less resistant to natural immunity and requires a booster, he said.

“The data is showing you need higher levels of antibody,” Basel said. “Natural immunity is probably not going to be enough. You need to get the booster as well.”

Health leaders encouraged the public to stay home if experiencing cold-like symptoms, get tested to avoid spreading the virus, seek care early when antibody treatments are most effective and be cautious in holiday gathering.

“This is about protecting yourself, it’s about protecting your loved ones and about protecting your communities,” Basel said. “It’s going to take effort from all of us, but we’ll get there.”

For information on the variety of vaccine events available, click here.

“We are willing to do as many vaccine events are needed to get the community vaccinated,” Chima said.

Call 211 or fill out a form online to schedule if you’re struggling to secure a vaccine.