ICU beds, supplies and coronavirus tests: What local hospitals will and won’t tell us
As Grand Strand area healthcare facilities manage an increasing amount of coronavirus cases, hospital officials are showing varying degrees of transparency.
The Sun News asked each local hospital for information related to COVID-19 testing, availability of intensive care units and supplies, but few provided specific answers.
Grand Strand Medical Center has tested more than 125 people at its facility, according to spokeswoman Katie Maclay, who did not respond to a follow-up question about how many of those tests came back positive.
None of the other local hospitals, including Tidelands, Conway Medical Center and McLeod, would provide the number of COVID-19 tests they’ve administered or ICU beds available at their facilities, though Tidelands did acknowledge seven positive cases from tests at its facilities, according to spokeswoman Dawn Bryant.
Bryant added that all seven are isolated at home and receiving appropriate care.
There have been 18 positive cases in the Grand Strand, including 16 in Horry County, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
State officials have declined to provide more specific locations, such as cities or neighborhoods, for positive cases because they fear it would provide a “false sense of security” for areas without any positive cases, and residents of those areas would be less likely to follow the governor’s directives.
Providing more specific information about patients wouldn’t aid public health, Dr. Linda Bell, a DHEC epidemiologist, said at Monday’s news conference.
DHEC has also provided age groups and genders of positive cases statewide, but that information hasn’t been updated since last week, when the total number of cases was 60. It has since risen to 298 as of Monday. The DHEC website notes that the demographic data will be updated on Wednesday afternoons.
A DHEC spokeswoman told The Sun News she couldn’t provide a total number of people tested in Horry County because private labs aren’t required to submit their negative results to the state. Public health labs have reported 2,012 negative tests through Monday.
The Grand Strand’s six hospitals are licensed for a total of 992 beds, according to the South Carolina Hospital Association’s directory.
A 2018 DHEC assessment of hospital bed needs by county, based on 2016 occupancy rates and population projections, found Horry County needed to add 47 beds by 2023, while Georgetown had an excess of 58 beds. Those figures don’t specify how many of those beds are capable of operating as ICUs.
Grand Strand Medical Center, the largest hospital in the area, has 52 ICU beds, according to Maclay, but the occupancy rates of those beds fluctuates, so she was unable to release how many of those units are currently being used.
Conway Medical Center has 32 ICU beds, according to spokeswoman Allyson Floyd, who also noted that the occupancy rate changes too much to report for publication.
Tidelands last week implemented “surge strategies,” converting rooms normally used by general surgical patients into critical care units, but Bryant didn’t say how many such units existed previously or now, noting that it changes based on need.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said during Monday’s news conference that his directive for hospitals to stop elective procedures has vacated more than 1,800 beds statewide.
Local hospital officials also declined to provide any specific numbers about their supplies, including face masks and ventilators, though state health director Rick Toomey acknowledged during Monday’s press conference that all providers are running low, and they are expecting an additional shipment soon.
Tidelands announced Tuesday it was seeking community residents to help sew new elastic straps onto its supply of several thousand N95 respirators, which were acquired during a previous public health emergency but never used.
South Carolina healthcare facilities hold about 1,138 ventilators statewide, Toomey said, including about 104 portable units in ambulances.
Local hospitals, following the governor’s orders, have all severely restricted hospital visitors, and some have established outdoor medical tents to care for patients with less severe symptoms.
