Grim COVID-19 projections are forecast for the Permian Basin so hospital and education officials urged precautions during a Zoom community update Thursday.
Staffing and morale are huge issues at Medical Center Hospital, Odessa Regional Medical Center and Scenic Mountain Medical Center.
Medical Center reported Thursday that they had 73 total COVID patients in house including 44 on med-surg (non-critical); 35 unvaccinated; eight vaccinated; and one unknown.
In critical care, there are 29 COVID patients; 22 are on a ventilator; 26 unvaccinated; two vaccinated and one unknown.
Age ranges of the COVID patients are 19 to 96, MCH information states.
MCH Chief Nursing Officer Christin Timmons said they have closed to elective procedures and have overflowed into the Wheatley Stewart Medical Pavilion for critical care patients.
Vaccinated patients have had both shots.
MCH President-CEO Russell Tippin said projections for the next 10-15-20 days in the region show cases rising.
Tippin said the projection lines are pointed straight up.
“So if you think we’ve got 70 or so in our ICU today think about if you take us and Odessa Regional and Midland together, it’s probably 100 maybe 140. … In the next 15 or 20 days … that would mean us going from 70 to 140 or 150 just right here at Medical Center. That is a very scary number that is not what we were looking for at all. It is a projection, so we do monitor this daily but this is hot off the press; this just was released today. … We are making plans to be prepared for this; things we’ve done; things we need to do,” Tippin said.
He said he’d seen that there was consideration for emergency approval of a third shot of Moderna or Pfizer, but ORMC Chief Medical Officer Rohith Saravanan said it would be for severely immunocompromised people and not for the general population.
Tippin said they have been talking about that for a couple of months. “But we will keep an eye on that as well and what that would mean for our community and what would something like that look like. At the same time, that’s just now making its way to the top,” he said.
With the projections trending upward, he again urged people to wash their hands, wear masks and educate themselves about the vaccine.
Tippin said he and Timmons can say the majority of patients in the hospital are unvaccinated.
“Does the vaccine cure it, no. It doesn’t. Does it give you a better chance to survive; yes it does …,” Tippin said.
Timmons said 25 staff were out Thursday; 19 out with COVID; and six out on cohabitation — individuals living with someone with COVID.
Last week, Timmons said they tested 30 employees and 11 of them were positive having been exposed outside of the organization.
During the last surge, MCH had FEMA nurses and they have none now, Timmons said.
“We are experiencing such a high volume of patients and many of those turning to critical care very quickly,” Timmons said.
“Overall before COVID, we had 74 open positions and so now on average you’re running 10-13 short just in specific departments — whether that be a nurse or respiratory therapy. It’s very important that we continue reaching out to the state to talk through the staffing needs in our organization and having the support of the community …,” Timmons said.
Going through agencies, she said there are wage wars and they are having a hard time getting people to come to Odessa.
“We are still allowing one visitor per patient,” Timmons said. “In the surgery area when there is a patient having surgery, they can have two. When a patient goes to a room then it needs to drop down to one.”
She said all their waiting areas are closed. They are continuing visitation for COVID patients under proper CDC guidance. However, it’s very limited because they do want to follow CDC guidance to decrease exposure.
If they are not in critical care, they can come from 1 to 3 or 6 to 8. They are being given small blocks of time within those hour increments and then they will be prearranged so the hospital can properly meet them at the door and escort them in and put them in their personal protective equipment.
For critical care patients, visitation for COVID is only 1 to 3. Timmons stressed that if you come to MCH, you are required to wear a mask at all times. If not, you will be asked to leave, that is not only for compliance, but to make sure everyone is safe.
Stacey Brown, president of ORMC and Scenic Mountain, said there were 21 COVID patients in house; nine of those are in intensive care and one is on a ventilator.
“We’re seeing on average much younger patients that are being admitted this time around than what we’ve seen historically,” Brown said.
Nine employees are out for either quarantine or self isolation.
At Scenic Mountain, they had 14 in house Thursday; four of those were in ICU and one on a ventilator.
“We’re seeing the younger ages at Scenic Mountain as well …,” Brown said.
There are 16 employees out on COVID protocols in Big Spring.
Saravanan said the important thing to notice on the graphs is that the line is now steeper and higher than in previous surges.
“So if it continues the way it does, it will be worse than the previous two surges,” Saravanan said.
He said it’s rising faster and it’s projected to be steeper, which means it will go higher and may last longer.
He said the existing shots work well against the variant.
“All the tests that we have sent out … the vast majority, 95-plus percent of those tests are coming back as Delta variant, so the Delta variant is what’s causing this surge,” he said.
Among the general population, Saravanan said 40 to 45 percent in Ector and Midland counties are fully vaccinated.
Seventy-five percent that are over age 65 are fully vaccinated, so those people are less likely to be hospitalized even if they do catch the disease, Saravanan said.
The vaccine prevents some of the disease and it prevents hospitalization if you were to get sick, he said.
He said the current wave is disproportionately affecting the unvaccinated.
ECISD Superintendent Scott Muri, UTPB President Sandra Woodley and Odessa College President Gregory Williams also were on the call.
Muri said many of the same protocols that were in place last year are in place this year.
As of the third day of school Thursday, 24 employees were positive and 12 students were positive.
“We are doing everything we are legally allowed to do as an organization to make sure our students and staff members are safe,” Muri said.
Woodley said UTPB is expecting to have an almost normal fall with in-person classes and events on campus.
“We are also doing everything we can to make sure that we minimize the risk to our students of COVID-19,” Woodley said.
She added their big push is for people to get a vaccine.
Williams said OC starts Aug. 23.
“We don’t want to weigh down our medical community. We’re going to limit the opportunity that they have to rescue us,” Williams said.
He said all who can get the vaccine should and everyone should make sure they are on top of those protocols.
Williams also urged everyone to wear masks “when we’re around people that we’re not sure about” and that you don’t know their vaccination status.
“We need to protect ourselves,” Williams said.
Brown said what she and other community leaders were trying to get across Thursday is that the outcome of this surge can be controlled.
“The process that we went through before to control it is no different then than it is today. If we wear our mask and social distance when you’re indoors and around others, wash your hands, we can control this surge to prevent it from getting to the level that we saw on those projections. …,” Brown said.
“We hope you will stand up and do your part to prevent our community from getting to that stage on those projections because we can make a difference,” Brown said.
