SC hospital leaders say staffing stretched thin by COVID, even as vaccines roll out
Health officials continue to grapple with growing COVID-19 hospitalizations and infections, as hospital staffing and capacity gets stretched thin amid the pandemic, even as vaccines begin to be distributed more widely.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin held a press conference Wednesday with Prisma Health CEO Mark O’Halla and Prisma’s Dr. Saria Saccocio, who co-chairs the hospital system’s COVID vaccine task force. As hospitalizations have risen across the state and within Prisma’s system, O’Halla said officials are keeping an eye on non-emergency procedures, and said more of those procedures might have to be postponed if coronavirus cases continue to surge.
COVID infections across the state have shown “tremendous, tremendous” growth across the recent holiday season, O’Halla said, noting the positivity rate on coronavirus tests has been above 30% for most of January, far higher than the 5% rate health officials say is needed. As of Tuesday, 2,453 COVID patients were in SC hospital beds, a record high that accounted for more than 27 percent of all hospitalized patients in the state.
O’Halla said that, as of Tuesday morning, 570 COVID patients were being cared for at Prisma facilities across the state.
He said that Prisma’s facilities in the Midlands are dealing with about 200 coronavirus patients a day.
“To put that into some context, that number is 30% higher than our peak during the last surge in the months of June and July,” O’Halla said. “The surge in numbers has grown exponentially.”
The Prisma CEO says the hospital system has been managing staffing shortages. More than 350 of the system’s employees were out sick with COVID in the last week, and about 180 of those were clinical workers, such as nurses and physicians. He said that has led to daily enhanced management of non-emergency cases.
“If we see the (COVID) surge continue to rise, we are going to begin the process of postponing some of those non-emergent cases,” O’Halla said. “But basically, because of our size and scope, we have had not had to do that in any kind of a significant and substantial way.”
O’Halla said the COVID surge has been unprecedented, but the hospital system is trying to work through it.
“This is what we train for, this is what we do,” the CEO said. “We are managing through it. We have been able to stay one step ahead of it to this point in time. We are hopeful that, with the advent of the new vaccines that have come out and we have been utilizing, that we will be able to slowly wrestle it to the ground and get it under control.”
On Tuesday, Prisma requested assistance from state emergency management officials and the National Guard to help staff a 15-bed “step down” unit for patients recovering from the coronavirus at its hospital in Laurens.
The state has been trying to rev up vaccine rollout. According to DHEC statistics, 233,600 vaccine doses have been received from the federal government in South Carolina, and 114,970 of those had been administered, as of Wednesday.
Prisma has administered 22,000 vaccine doses as of Wednesday, O’Halla and Saccocio said.
On Wednesday, the state said that residents over the age of 70, regardless of health status or pre-existing conditions, can begin to schedule their vaccine appointments, and can go to scdhec.gov/vaxlocator for an online map of locations statewide accepting appointments.
Officials also are seeking to highlight the safety of the vaccine, in an effort to build public trust and encourage those who are eligible to take the shots. The two vaccines currently on the market — one from Pfizer and one from Moderna — each require an initial shot, then a second shot a few weeks later, to achieve the best efficacy.
Benjamin said Wednesday he has confidence in the vaccines, and he plans to be inoculated when possible. Other city leaders, such as police Chief Skip Holbrook and fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins, have received vaccines, and first responders in their departments are beginning to get them, as well.
“As soon as the vaccine is available to me, I will be taking it,” Benjamin said. “Part of our role as responsible public sector leaders is encouraging as many of our citizens to take it as possible.”
State leaders also have encouraged public trust in the COVID-19 vaccine. On Tuesday, state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell received her first dose of the vaccine.
“I have the utmost confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines,” Bell said in a DHEC release. “However, until there is enough vaccine for all of us and enough people get vaccinated, we must continue to take actions we know work. That includes wearing our masks, maintaining physical distance, avoiding large gatherings, and washing our hands frequently.”
