PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center continues to see a drop in its COVID-19 hospitalizations, but the hospital remains concerned about a potential holiday coronavirus surge.
The hospital noted the decline Wednesday as Clark County Public Health reported 250 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 10,228 to date.
Public Health also reported 928 active cases in Clark County, counting people with COVID-19 and still in their isolation period. There were 51 hospitalizations for COVID-19 at all Clark County hospitals on Wednesday and eight hospitalized in the county awaiting test results, according to Public Health.
PeaceHealth Southwest reported 27 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Wednesday morning. Five of those patients were in the intensive care unit.
Around this point last week, PeaceHealth had 42 hospitalized COVID-19 patients; on Nov. 25 the hospital had 54 coronavirus hospitalizations.
Over the course of the last week, Clark County has seen an overall decrease in coronavirus hospitalizations.
In a press briefing Wednesday, Dr. Lawrence Neville, PeaceHealth Southwest chief medical officer, said that there’s still an expectation that cases will rise again because of Thanksgiving gatherings.
“We see this as a brief period to catch our breath and to shore things up and continue to help each other as health care workers in anticipation that we may see another wave,” Neville said.
A surge will likely begin by the end of this week or within the next two weeks, if it manifests, Neville said. In a press briefing last week, Neville said PeaceHealth was expecting to see a 20 percent to 40 percent surge in COVID-19 patients two to four weeks after Thanksgiving.
The 250 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday follows almost a week with the average number of new cases coming in at about 150 cases per day.
No new deaths were reported Wednesday. The county has 115 confirmed and suspect deaths from COVID-19.
Neville said he’s not sure why there has been a decrease in hospitalizations recently, but mentioned those numbers have had random variance throughout the pandemic.
There are still a couple reasons to be concerned, Neville said. COVID-19 activity has been increasing in nearby Cowlitz County, and PeaceHealth is seeing an uptick in “influenzalike” activity in patients at local clinics, which has previously been a good predicator that hospitalizations will rise soon.
“We are seeing some early signs that things might be getting worse,” Neville said.
The hospital was at 84 percent capacity overall Wednesday and 63 percent capacity in its ICU.
Jackie DeCillo, a nurse manager who has been managing a PeaceHealth Southwest COVID-19 unit, said the pandemic has taken a mental and physical toll on staff.
DeCillo and Neville urged the public to follow the proper precautions and forego Christmas gatherings. DeCillo said the virus can act differently in different people, but said its effects can be devastating for many.
“For the workers that are here every day taking care of patients with COVID-19, it’s real,” DeCillo said.
