Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Group: A third of those hospitalized in Clark County are coronavirus patients

UMC

John Locher / AP

An ambulance is parked at University Medical Center.

Roughly one in three patients hospitalized in Clark County are being treated for COVID-19 as the hospital capacity has reached 84% with patients of all kinds, according to the Nevada Hospital Association.

“The hospitals are feeling the strain but are currently managing the crisis and the stress,” said Dr. Chris Lake of the association during Thursday’s COVID-19 Mitigation and Management Task Force meeting.

COVID-19 accounted for 14% of patients in Clark County on Nov. 1. That figure is now at 30%, jumping from 512 known or suspected COVID-19 patients to 1,188 — an increase of 132%.

Intensive care demand also climbed in November at an alarming rate with an 112% increase, going from 120 ICU patients on Nov. 1 to 254 by the end of the month.

Nevada reported 48 deaths from the virus on Thursday, the largest recorded number of daily deaths since the outset of the pandemic. Through Thursday, there have been 159,532 cases and 2,249 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

“That’s 48 additional Nevada families who will be missing a loved one this holiday season,” Gov. Steve Sisolak posted on Twitter.

A spokesman for HCA Healthcare, which operates MountainView, Southern Hills and Sunrise hospitals, said its Las Vegas locations are seeing an increase in COVID-19 patients in recent weeks but they still have ICU capacity.

“As the number of patients with COVID is dynamic and changes on a daily basis, we assess and adapt our operations accordingly,” HCA communications manager Antonio Castelan said. “We have enacted surge plans at some of our hospitals, which allow us to flex staffing to address our most critical patients, including those with COVID. We continue to ask our community to practice preventive measures — such as social distancing, wearing a mask and getting a flu shot — as much as possible to keep themselves and others safe.”

While ventilator use is ticking up statewide, it is moderate as newer treatments have reduced the need for mechanical breathing assistance in critical patients. Forty-one percent were in use for any reason as of Wednesday and only 17% were COVID-19 patients, leaving 570 available in the Las Vegas area.

Statewide, about 700 out of 1,200 ventilators remained available.

“We do have plenty of ventilators. That is not an issue at this point — I don’t want to get that misconstrued,” Lake said. “But we are seeing an increase in people that need that level of care.”

The growth in hospital demand comes amid Nevada’s predicted fall wave and follows a well-established disease progression that public health experts say plays out over the course of five weeks: spikes in positive test results, followed by increases in hospitalizations, then an increase in deaths.

On Oct. 28, Clark County had about 84,000 cumulative known cases of COVID-19 and 374 hospitalized coronavirus patients. On Nov. 10, the day Gov. Steve Sisolak issued his warning that more restrictions would come if Nevada’s trends didn’t turn around in two weeks, the Clark County case count had climbed to about 91,000 and 579 hospitalized patients.

The deceleration that Sisolak pleaded for did not come, and last week the governor reduced capacity in bars, restaurants and other businesses for at least three weeks.