COLUMBUS, Ind. — Bartholomew County health officials are warning that the local health care system is “almost at a breaking point” as COVID-19 hospitalizations soar and the viral outbreak worsens heading into Thanksgiving.
COVID-19 hospitalizations at Columbus Regional Hospital continued to rise on Monday, with 47 people hospitalized, once again setting an all-time record since the pandemic took root in March.
On Tuesday, there were 43 people hospitalized at CRH with COVID-19, compared to 12 on Nov. 1, the hospital said.
Nine of the patients hospitalized on Tuesday were listed in critical condition, with the other 34 listed as stable, the hospital said.
Currently, CRH is at about 85% capacity and almost one-third of the 151 patients at the hospital on Tuesday had COVID-19, nearly filling up the entire COVID-19 ward, the hospital said.
Additionally, Schneck Medical Center in Seymour has run out of ICU beds and has been diverting critically ill or injured patients to other hospitals for the past two days, according to The Seymour Tribune.
CRH has not started diverting patients to other facilities and uses a combination of available staff and beds to calculate its occupancy capacity, hospital officials said.
As of Tuesday, 27 CRH staff members were quarantining after testing positive for COVID-19 or having symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, the hospital said.
A total of 107 CRH employees have tested positive for COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.