‘A place we’d hoped to never see again’: Tidelands Health over 100% capacity as COVID surges
A new surge of coronavirus cases has pushed Tidelands Health past its capacity, forcing the hospital system to double down on COVID-19 protocols that were once believed to be in the rear-view mirror.
Less than two months having zero inpatient COVID-19 cases at the end of June, Tidelands Health will open temporary respiratory clinics to treat patients and reschedule some surgeries to accommodate the rising number of hospitalizations, according to a news release from the health system.
Both Waccamaw Community Hospital and Georgetown Memorial Hospital are over 100% capacity, the release said. Earlier this week, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control counted fewer than 50 hospital beds available across all of Horry County.
“Take measures now in the public, so that we don’t stress the healthcare system,” Tidelands Vice President of Medical Affairs Dr. Gerald Harmon told The Sun News earlier this week. “If we get stressed, everybody gets stressed.”
The latest surge of cases is a bitter reminder of hospitalization rates seen in the Myrtle Beach area earlier in the pandemic, but this time it’s been sparked by the highly contagious delta variant, which is believed to be the dominant strain in South Carolina and across the U.S. Individual hospitals aren’t able to test for specific variants, but DHEC tracks delta’s spread by analyzing a random selection of cases. In the Pee Dee region, more than 100 cases of the delta variant have been confirmed, but the actual number is likely much higher because of the testing method.
“Our region is back in a place we’d hoped to never see again,” said Gayle Resetar, chief operating officer at Tidelands. “Our friends and neighbors are getting sick at an alarming rate, and our health care professionals are shouldering the burden.”
Starting Monday, Tidelands will open respiratory clinics in Murrells Inlet and Georgetown for patients who have respiratory symptoms that don’t rise to the level of emergency care.
Certain surgeries that aren’t time-sensitive will be rescheduled, a move that’s reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic. The health system is also reassigning nurses who don’t typically work in a clinical setting to the front lines. Staff who work extra shifts are being offered incentive pay, and Tidelands is working to hire more travel nurses.
In response to the latest spike in cases, Tidelands is also expanding its monoclonal antibody infusion clinic. The treatment has been used more than 600 times at Tidelands and has been proven to reduce the risk of hospitalization.
Officials at Tidelands are adamant that the best way to protect yourself and others from the virus is to get the coronavirus vaccine. To date, Horry County has 52% of its eligible population fully vaccinated, one of the highest rates in South Carolina, according to DHEC data.
Read The Sun News’ coverage of COVID-19 and the pandemic here.
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 10:49 AM.
