‘Not a good trend’: As coronavirus cases spike, how are Beaufort Co. hospitals faring?
COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising around South Carolina as infections surge to new highs.
How has Beaufort County been affected?
As of Friday, the county’s medical centers had recorded an increase in coronavirus-positive patients when compared to levels earlier this fall.
Those hospitalizations, though, are still well below what was reported in July, as Beaufort County suffered through the Sun Belt’s summer surge.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital was treating 11 COVID-19 patients as of 11 a.m. Friday, according to spokesperson Courtney McDermott. Two of those people were in the intensive care unit on ventilators.
The hospital’s 12-bed ICU, which can be expanded, was filled with patients early Friday, McDermott added. Eight people in total were on ventilators, which mechanically pump oxygen for those who can’t breathe.
Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals, meanwhile, had nine coronavirus patients as of Friday afternoon, according to spokesperson Daisy Burroughs. None was in an ICU bed.
The county’s hospitalization numbers track alongside daily infection counts.
While the area’s seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is back to mid-August levels, Beaufort County hasn’t recorded a spike like the Upstate’s yet.
Greenville and Spartanburg counties are reporting a surge in disease spread, which partially drove South Carolina’s then-record-breaking daily case count Friday of 2,470 newly confirmed infections.
Both counties accounted for roughly 26% of all cases recorded in the state Friday.
Regardless, experts are increasingly concerned about COVID-19 conditions in the Lowcountry and in the Palmetto State as a whole.
“I’m just worried about what’s going to happen over the next week,” said Dr. Faith Polkey, chief clinical officer at Beaufort Jasper Hampton Comprehensive Health Services, in an interview Friday.
The effects of Thanksgiving
Beaufort County will have a better idea of Thanksgiving’s effects on coronavirus transmission by mid-December, Polkey said.
Experts previously warned S.C. residents that holiday gatherings in poorly ventilated households, with visiting family members, could be devastating.
Case numbers, though, are already rising in the area.
The county on Friday recorded its highest daily infections count since early August, and its seven-day average was 44 new cases reported every 24 hours, as of Friday.
Residents are spending more time interacting with one another now than they did earlier in the pandemic, regardless of Thanksgiving, Polkey said. That increases the likelihood of disease spread.
Most patients at BJHCHS, Polkey added, are contracting the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, within their own households.
“Now is the time to get tested,” she said, noting that some people infected on Thanksgiving might still be pre-symptomatic or simply asymptomatic carriers of the pathogen.
Polkey, though, stressed that Beaufort County’s COVID-19 trends aren’t as bad as they were in July.
Yet.
As cases rise, an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations typically occurs about two weeks later, said Melanie Matney, the S.C. Hospital Association’s system chief operating officer.
About two weeks after a surge in hospitalizations, there’s usually a record-breaking number of COVID-19 deaths, Matney added.
“In a month or so, within the next month, it’s going to be really, really bad,” she said in an interview Friday.
‘It’s not a good trend’
COVID-19 hospitalizations across South Carolina increased last week.
The state reported at least 900 coronavirus patients hospitalized for six days straight as of Friday, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Wednesday also marked the first day since late August that more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted at S.C. hospitals.
About 11.9% of patients statewide Thursday — 1,047 — were COVID-19-positive. Over 230 of those people were in ICU beds, and 104 were on ventilators.
Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 peaked at 1,723 statewide on July 23.
Beaufort County’s coronavirus admissions were also the highest this past summer.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital at one point had admitted 45 coronavirus patients. Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals were regularly treating at least a dozen.
Matney, meanwhile, said the S.C. Hospital Association is tracking COVID-19 data closely and is concerned about the number of hospitals across the state whose bed occupancy is at or above 90% filled.
“It’s not a good trend,” she said, adding that some Thanksgiving infections are already affecting medical centers.
Hospitals are also facing a deluge of non-coronavirus patients who are sicker than usual, Matney said, because some people were afraid to seek medical care during earlier stages of the pandemic.
Emergency actions, like the use of field hospitals, could soon be on S.C.’s horizon, she predicted.
Officials in Rhode Island are already resorting to those measures as cases spike.
“Things are getting worse, there is no question,” Matney said. “Things are getting much worse.”
