COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS CONTINUE TO RISE

During the holiday weekend, EAMC continued to see a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, reaching 41 cases, which is more than we’ve seen in weeks. As a reference point, our peak of COVID-19 hospitalizations was 54 positive cases on April 11. Below, Dr. Maldonado, M.D, infectious diseases specialist, and Michael Roberts, M.D., internal medicine specialist and EAMC's current Chief of Staff, share insights on the rise in hospitalizations and what this means for our community going forward.

"I remember vividly that first week in April when we peaked,” Dr. Maldonado explains. “The anxiety in the ER, the ICU and the COVID-19 floor. The hospital was reaching capacity with COVID admissions. Although there were no elective procedures and many services were shut down, the ICU was full with very sick patients. I saw even the toughest nurses break down out of fatigue and the feeling of hopelessness.”

“I remember that the community called us heroes, and the support and love of our community was felt,” Dr. Maldonado continues. “We thank you for that support, because for those of us inside the hospital, it was like being in a war zone. Now, the heroes that our community supported earlier this year, are once again beginning to feel the distress of what we saw in early April. Right now, we have massive widespread transmission in our community, unlike what we saw in April, which was made up of smaller local outbreaks in places like churches.”

Dr. Roberts notes that while we are all tired of following guidelines and hearing about COVID-19 in the news, now is not the time to relax. “We are all fatigued to some degree about the restrictions on gathering and travel related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Roberts says. “We are tired of staying six feet away from people we love. We have postponed vacations, and we have missed weddings, funerals, and graduations. We are tired of putting on masks when we are in public. For some, it is because they are uncomfortable, and for others, masks seem to have become a political issue. As the current graph reveals, now is not the time to let our guard down."

“We have learned a lot about COVID-19 in the last five months, and while we feel a lot better about the management of this serious illness, we are still continuing to learn,” Dr. Maldonado notes. “COVID-19 cases are going up, and we are now seeing patients who are completely healthy and in their early thirties sick enough to be in the ICU. We even have patients in their twenties that are now hospitalized with COVID-19.”

According to Drs. Maldonado and Roberts, if we do not see improvement in the community adherence to social distancing and mask guidelines, we could likely see another shelter in place order similar to what we saw in the spring. “If hospitals get overwhelmed again, another shelter in place order could come, along with its devastation on the economy and mental health,” Dr. Maldonado says. “It is up to the public to help stop this upward trend in cases. We are all understandably tired of social distancing, we all dislike wearing masks in this weather, and we all want to get back to business and back to normal. However, not wearing a face mask inside a public building is simply irresponsible and selfish. I feel your pain as I also have family, friends and activities that I miss, but doing these few things to help stop the spread is a small price to pay to avoid another shelter in place order."

EAMC and EAMC-Lanier both have rigorous disinfection processes, daily staff and physician screening, and other extreme measures in place to keep our patients and staff safe as we continue our routine services and manage the uptick in hospitalizations. Unfortunately, due to the current pattern of continued increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, visitor restrictions are still in place at both EAMC and EAMC-Lanier.

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