More people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Beaufort Co., but beds, ventilators remain open
The number of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 at hospitals in Beaufort and Jasper counties continued to rise this week, but medical centers reported no serious capacity concerns as of Thursday.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital said it had 14 COVID-19-positive patients and 11 patients admitted under investigation for possible coronavirus infections as of noon Thursday, a spokesperson wrote in a statement. On July 1, the hospital reported 12 patients who had contracted COVID-19.
As of Thursday, 10 of 12 ICU beds at the hospital were full. (The same ICU capacity was reported June 26.)
Six people in the ICU had confirmed coronavirus infections as of Thursday. Three of those were on ventilators. Beaufort Memorial Hospital has 29 ventilators total.
The Hilton Head Regional Healthcare system, meanwhile, was treating 17 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to a spokesperson for Tenet Healthcare, which owns Hilton Head Hospital and Coastal Carolina Hospital. Two of those people were in ICU beds.
On June 29, the regional system had seven COVID-19-positive patients admitted.
“Both hospitals have the ability to repurpose space and increase critical care services in the facilities, if it is needed,” wrote Tenet spokesperson Daisy Burroughs in a statement.
Hilton Head Regional Healthcare has not requested assistance from the S.C. Emergency Management Division in the past week, she added Friday.
Other hospitals around the state, though, have turned to EMD for help as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge around South Carolina.
During a conference call with reporters Thursday, EMD spokesman Derrec Becker said Tidelands Health has filed a request for staffing support as the coronavirus continues to pummel the Grand Strand.
“We’re not to the point yet of looking at alternate facilities or any type of surge planning, but we started talking with the hospitals pretty much on a daily basis last week as we were getting close to that,” Becker said.
As of Friday, 75% of ICU beds at acute care hospitals in the state were full, said Dr. Joan Duwve, director of public health at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, during a Friday news conference with Gov. Henry McMaster. Duwve added that 25% of ventilators were in use.
“We’re seeing some of our highest hospitalization rates and also the highest number of COVID-19-related patients that have required ventilators,” Duwve added during the Thursday conference call.
“Our neighbors, our friends, our fellow South Carolinians are now sicker than they have ever been because of this virus, and I hope this is a stark reminder to all of us that our actions are important, and they impact and they affect others,” she said.
As of Friday, over 52,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed statewide since March, according to DHEC data. Beaufort County has had 1,809 cases.
South Carolina — and Beaufort County — logged high numbers of newly confirmed coronavirus infections in June, and that trend has continued into July. Public health officials say a lack of social distancing and increased travel around the state have contributed to the surge, among other things.
Dr. Michael Schmidt, a microbiology and immunology professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, on Friday said residents have to take public health recommendations more seriously.
“We knew better from the experiences of New York, and New Jersey, and Italy, and we chose to ignore it,” Schmidt said. “We have at least a month more of hurt and pain.”
“South Carolina is literally where New York City was in early April,” he said.
