Intel from a local nurse

Sep 14, 2021, 1:15 AM

SC reports 3-day total of nearly 15,000 new COVID-19 cases, total cases exceed 800K

Here are the numbers from over the weekend, Thursday-Saturday:

New cases - 14,763 (11,592 confirmed, 3,171 probable)

Deaths - 158 (51 Thursday, 38 Friday, 69 Saturday)

Percent positive - 10.1% (first time I’ve seen it that low for weeks, yay! Let’s hope it starts a trend!)

My hospital system report gets worse and worse. We have a record 195 covid patients and they make up 44% of the total patient population. This is the third week in a row that we’ve had record covid patients. Keep in mind we also have covid convalescent patients, meaning no longer active covid patients but still hospitalized with the after-effects. So covid-related hospitalization is even higher than 44%. We have an additional 69 people being cared for by home health and hospice teams and 32 patients pending.

36 ICU patients (34 unvaccinated/partially vaccinated) and 22 on a ventilator (20 unvaccinated/partially vaccinated.)

Among all inpatients, 85% are not vaccinated and 15% are. 27% of the inpatients are younger than 50.

The current 7 day average for percent positive is 21.5%. Let me know of you want to see the breakdown by age group of who’s testing positive, but the under 17 group lead the way at 19% of positive cases.

The administration also took the opportunity to address a few questions they had been receiving. They do not officially track whether inpatients have prior history of covid infection but based on anecdotal evidence it does not seem to be a common occurrence for an inpatient to have been previously infected (though I wouldn’t say it’s super rare either, I’ve personally cared for a couple and I don’t see that many covids.)

They’ve also been asked about whether any fully vaccinated people with no underlying diseases are in the ICU or ventilated. Again, not a statistic they are tracking but as of today the answer is no. Generally, if patients are vaccinated and on a ventilator it’s because they are immunocompromised or have other comorbidities.

They’ve also been asked about what types of vaccines the patients had. Again, that’s not being tracked but they reviewed the data from September 10th and of the covid inpatients that day, 12 had Pfizer, 4 had J&J, and 8 had Moderna. They emphasize that this does not take into account the predominant vaccine distributed in the lowcountry and or how long ago the patients were vaccinated and as such is not an indication of which vaccine is most/least effective.

As for the less official report, my own reports are grim. My old floor is cardiac step-down unit, meaning they get the chest pain/heart attacks, arrhythmias, CHF, etc. They are now 50% full of active or convalescent covid patients, begging the question “where are all the cardiac patients going…?” They have also lowered the threshold for what counts as a contagious patient. Now if someone is 14 days out from their self-reported onset of symptoms (even if they’re not the best historian) they are sent to a regular room with no airborne precautions. Unless of course they’ve very symptomatic, at which point they do get airborne precautions. So…? Perhaps the most alarming to me is that they’ve lowered the baseline acceptable oxygen saturation from 90% to 85%. So the floors can’t even start escalating a case that would normally be triggering a rapid response/ICU evaluation until their patient deteriorates further. The nurses have been told “there is no ICU.” That’s terrifying to me and I know it’s heartbreaking for the bedside nurses/doctors/RTs/techs who want nothing more than to be able to help their people.

As always, please stay safe. Wear masks, get vaccinated (or start thinking about a booster,) and use caution/sense when socializing. The weather has been slightly more forgiving for outdoor hangouts, take advantage!

https://www.reddit.com/r/southcarolina/comments/pnmzy7/sc_reports_3day_total_of_nearly_15000_new_covid19/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

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Deaths lag by 4 weeks. Today's deaths are people who

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