Data released by the federal government this week painted a more detailed picture of the toll that the pandemic has been taking on thousands of individual hospitals in the U.S. — including Columbus Regional Hospital, where the increase in the share of beds filled with COVID-19 patients has been among the highest in the state over the past three months.
Records from the Department of Health and Human Services show that, on average, the percentage of beds at CRH occupied by COVID-19 patients has more than quadrupled since early September and only 12 out of 120 hospitals in Indiana reported higher increases over the same time period.
From Dec. 4 to Dec. 10, an average of 27% of hospital beds at CRH were occupied with COVID-19 patients, up from an average of 6% of hospital beds from Sept. 4 to Sept. 10.
The data set, released Monday and updated weekly, reflects what hospitals reported to the federal government the week after a surge in hospitalizations and quarantined staff pushed CRH to its limits, briefly reaching full staffed capacity on Dec. 2, the same day a record 59 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
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Other nearby hospitals saw similar increases in the share of beds occupied with COVID-19 patients over the same time period.
Franciscan Health Indianapolis, located off of Interstate 65 near Southport, reported a 22% increase, while Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin reported a 17% increase and Schneck Medical Center in Seymour reported a 9% increase.
“The biggest thing is that (the pandemic) has never let up for those who have been on our COVID unit from the beginning,” said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue. “There’s never been a time when COVID is not in their face at work or outside of work.”
A new dataset
The new data marked the second time that the federal government released information on individual hospitals during the pandemic, including how many beds are filled with COVID-19 patients and the share of inpatient and ICU beds available. Previous data was aggregated at the state level.
Public health experts believe the detailed local data will be critical for regional resource planning efforts, collaboration between hospitals and decisions on where to tighten virus-related restrictions.
The data, however, lags behind several days and may not reflect the current situation on the ground or include information on hospitals that have expanded their surge capacity or reconfigured their ICUs to accommodate more patients.
In addition, the number of beds is limited by the number of doctors and nurses available to treat patients, which is not clearly stated in the data.
Federal health officials said the data should not discourage people from seeking medical care.
“Hospitals have protocols in place to keep patients safe from exposure and to ensure all patients are prioritized for care,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
CRH officials have said they won’t turn away patients who need medical care.
“If you come to us, we’re still going to care for you,” DeClue said in an earlier interview. “We’re going to open the door to you, and if we can’t physically keep you, we’re still going to take you into our emergency department, we’re going to get you in a stable condition to transfer you to a place that can care for you.”
Pandemic strain
However, CRH is not the only hospital in Indiana that has felt the strain of the pandemic, particularly in their ICUs.
A total of 12 hospitals in Indiana reported average ICU occupancy rates of at least 90% from Dec. 4 to 10, including five that reported no available ICU beds, according to HHS.
Johnson Memorial Hospital reported an average ICU occupancy rate of 83% over the same time period, while Franciscan Health Indianapolis reported 87% occupancy. Major Hospital in Shelbyville reported 79% occupancy and IU Health Bloomington Hospital reported 69%.
CRH, for its part, reported that an average of 64% of its ICU beds were occupied from Dec. 4 to 10, according to HHS.
“Our ICU continues to be very full,” DeClue said. “So we’re seeing the acuity level, or the severity, of those people who are admitted to that higher level of care stayed relatively the same, and that’s concerning.”
At least 31,820 people in Indiana have been hospitalized with COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic, seventh highest among the 38 states reporting cumulative figures, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project.
There were 3,065 people hospitalized in Indiana with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections as of Thursday, down from 3,460 on Nov. 30 but still much higher than 751 on Sept. 5, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
State health officials, however, fear that things will only get worse as people gather over the holidays, said Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box on Wednesday.
“Our cases remain high and that continues to stress our hospitals,” Box said. “…We’re worried about a surge on top of a surge.”
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To view the data, visit https://healthdata.gov/dataset/covid-19-reported-patient-impact-and-hospital-capacity-facility.
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