Olympia Hospitals Have Limited Beds, Ventilators Available, Health Officials Say

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The number of patients are exceeding adequate capacity at Olympia hospitals and ventilators are in short supply, a Thurston County Public Health and Social Services official said.

Providence St. Peter Hospital and Multicare Capital Medical Center were treating 64 COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, said PHSS director Schelli Slaughter during a board of county commissioners meeting.

"This is by far an all-time high number," Slaughter said. "Twenty-seven of those are on ventilators. In terms of total ventilators we have available in Thurston County, there are three listed this morning."

In the event more than three patients need ventilators, Slaughter said hospitals may divert patients to other hospitals. The county also may request more ventilators from the state, she said.

Diverting patients may prove difficult as hospital capacity has been strained across the state, Slaughter said. She said state and local officials are actively preparing crisis and emergency plans.

"Every hospital everywhere in Washington is experiencing a really similar problem and so that makes it extra challenging," Slaughter said. "Our entire statewide hospital system is stressed and experiencing limited staffing, resources and bed shortages."

Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 rose by 57 over the past week, according to county data, bringing the total number of hospitalizations to 805 since March 2020.

In the state's west region, which includes Thurston County, the number of occupied beds was exceeding adequate capacity as of Sunday. The west region also includes Grays Harbor, Lewis, north Pacific and Pierce counties.

"Thurston County is a regional hub, with Providence St. Peter Hospital being the largest acute critical care hospital in the region (excluding Pierce County)," Slaughter said.

State data show 85.1% of 1,680 adult staffed acute care beds are occupied by patients while adequate capacity is defined as less than 80%. COVID-19 cases account for 15.9% of those adult staffed acute care beds.



As for intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 87% of 253 beds were occupied as of Sunday, the data show, and 23.3% of those are occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The county reported 723 cases in the past week and 724 the week prior, according to county data. On Tuesday, Health Officer Dimyana Abdelmalek said disease activity has been increasing.

"Case counts do continue to rise," Abdelmalek said. "They are currently ... at the highest point that we've seen them throughout this pandemic."

The RO value for Thurston County, a reproductive rate that measures virus transmissibility, is currently at 2.9, she said. That means each person with the virus is infecting nearly three other people on average.

Abdelmalek expanded on her decision to issue a masking directive that took effect Friday, saying the delta variant can even spread among the fully vaccinated in rare cases.

"This is why I made my masking directive, asking all Thurston County residents, even if you're fully vaccinated, to wear masks in indoor public spaces until our case counts decline and our hospital capacity improves."

She stressed that vaccines are safe and they are effective at reducing the risk of infection and severe outcomes. Yet, state data show just 50.6% of the total county population had been fully vaccinated as of Saturday.

She estimated that about 95% of new hospital patients are among those who have not been fully vaccinated.

"A combination of masking, vaccination as well as other mitigation measures are our best hope at driving down this infection curve," she said.

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