‘It’s very challenging’: Georgetown County hospitals overwhelmed with COVID patients
There are only eight hospital beds available in Georgetown County as hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients right before the holidays, according to data from the state health agency.
Hospitals across Georgetown County are operating at 95.6% occupancy, meaning 175 out of 183 hospital beds are full, according to data provided by The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The hospital bed occupancy report was updated at midnight Thursday.
Chief Operating Officer of Tidelands Health Gayle Resetar said the two Tidelands hospital locations, in Georgetown and Murrells Inlet, are dealing with the highest numbers of coronavirus patients they’ve seen at any point during the pandemic.
Tidelands Health said it reached a record number of hospitalizations on Tuesday, at 62 coronavirus patients. Sixteen of them are in the ICU and 11 are on a ventilator, according to Tidelands.
There were 135 new coronavirus cases in Georgetown County Monday through Thursday, according to Thursday’s DHEC data. That brings the total number of confirmed infections in the county since March to 2,809.
Resetar attributed the most recent spike in hospitalizations to people gathering for Thanksgiving.
“Shortly after Thanksgiving, about seven days or so, we started seeing numbers of just positive cases pop up. And then within a week or so after that, you start seeing hospitalizations up. So, you know, we do believe it’s directly related to that,” Resetar said.
“We know that about 10% of the people that get COVID are going to get hospitalized. And that’s really been consistent throughout the pandemic. So, with the numbers going up in the community, it was just a matter of time before the hospital admissions would go up.”
Resetar said she hopes the post-Thanksgiving COVID spike serves as a “warning shot” to compel people to act in accordance with pandemic safety guidelines for the Christmas holiday week and New Year’s. She said the best way for hospitals to manage the spike in cases is by curbing the number of new hospital admissions.
“Nobody wants to see their family members or friends hospitalized,” Resetar said. “It’s pretty simple to prevent the spread of the virus. It’s masking, social distancing, avoiding large crowds, staying outside, washing your hands. Those things have been proven to prevent spread and reduce spread significantly.”
‘We really need people to keep their guard up’
Resetar said Tidelands is struggling to meet the demands placed on their hospitals by the most recent spike in COVID cases.
“You look for people to be willing to work an extra shift nursing shift,” she said. “We create some financial incentives for people to work extra shifts when we’re in a crisis.”
She said the holidays present a unique staffing challenge. She said many travel nurses, whom hospitals have been relying on to meet staffing strains brought on by the pandemic, make arrangements to have their schedules clear around the holidays.
“(Christmas) is the time you start to lose some of your travel nurses,” Resetar said.
She said that the strain brought on by the latest COVID spike means that nurses who are normally in administrative roles have to return to patient-care roles.
“I would probably tell you that every nurse manager and all of the nursing units in the hospital are actively taking care of patients, too,” Resetar said.
“(The coronavirus) is still here and we still are going to have to coexist with it. Until we are able to really get full roll-out of a vaccination, we really need people to keep their guard up,” Resetar said.
“I can tell you for the nurses on the floor. . . It’s very disheartening when there are negative comments that would suggest for a minute that (the pandemic) is not real, because it’s very real for them. And it’s very challenging, and they’re exhausted.”
