Several dozen hospitals serving Kansas patients reported Wednesday that they expect to deal with staffing shortages over the next week as the state continues to report an average of well over 1,000 new coronavirus cases a day. The Wichita area’s two major health systems said Wednesday that almost 150 coronavirus patients were hospitalized, their highest numbers since the pandemic began. The Ascension Via Christi system is trying to bring about 60 nurses from outside Kansas into the state to help with staffing, and it has converted space into two new units for COVID-19 patients. A surge in cases even prompted public health officials and the local Chamber of Commerce in Reno County in south-central Kansas to launch a 10-day campaign to be more diligent in following the county’s mask mandate and following other public health recommendations, such as observing social distancing and avoiding gatherings.
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He says “the numbers that get reported are a specific snapshot of a moment in time. Those change day to day, they also change hour to hour.” Both hospitals have already implemented emergency protocols to expand the number of ICU beds they have, so as to be able to accommodate their patients. Because of that, Carla Yost from Ascension Via Christi, says the number to worry about right now is not ICU bed capacity. She says “there is a concern about the number of hospitalizations. No, about three weeks ago, we had 70. A week ago, we had 90 now we’re up to 111. Now, that’s not sustainable, long term.”
Source: KAKE – News