St. Charles at 92% capacity amid latest COVID-19 surge; some elective surgeries delayed again

'In Bend, we’re seeing much sicker patients, on average'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Oregon’s recent surge in COVID-19 cases has helped to spark a capacity crunch at St. Charles Bend. Despite having just half December’s peak of 60 COVID-19 patients, the hospital reached 92% capacity Monday, again forcing movement of some patients and scaling back elective surgeries that require hospitalization, officials said.

“We’re about as full as we get,” Dr. Jeff Absalon, chief medical officer, told reporters. “We are as full, if not more full as we were in December,” when the record number of 60 COVID-19 patients occurred, putting added pressure on the ICU, Absalon said.

“It’s putting a strain on our health system,” he said. “We have very tight capacity in our acute care facilities.”

Elective surgeries that require a hospital stay have been curtailed “intermittently” during the pandemic, Absalon noted. Due to the current squeeze, on Tuesday, only about 10 of the 20 planned elective procedures that require post-surgery hospitalization will proceed as planned.

Absalon again urged all who have not to get vaccinated, noting that as of Sunday night, there were still nearly 2,000 openings for first doses this week at the Redmond mass vaccination clinic. You can register at https://www.centraloregoncovidvaccine.com/.

The benefits of earlier vaccination focused on seniors is evident in the latest numbers, Absalon said. Those in the hospital are, on average, 13 years younger in the past two months as those hospitalized with COVID earlier this year.

“So we take this as an indication that the vaccine is working to protect our older folks,” he said, again urging all to continue to do the vital public health protocols of mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing, to curb the spread.

“In Bend, we’re seeing much sicker patients, on average,” Absalon said of the overall patient count, noting that at least “some may be the result of a delay in care.”

Absalon said the health system is “working very hard to create capacity” and also seeking additional nursing care and physician support.

“We are very tight on beds, so we’re working to move into additional ‘surge space,’” including moving some patients into the 15-bed St. Charles Redmond space that formerly housed that hospital's now closed family birthing unit.

Dr. Mike Johnson, a senior data scientist analyst with the health system, said “there’s an incredibly high correlation” between the overall rise in cases and the rise in hospitalizations, with a 5- to 8-day lag.

“We don’t expect the number to come down until the number of positive cases comes down,” he said. “Thankfully, the vaccination strategy appears also to be working. … Until the number of positive cases come down, I’m unwilling to say how high the surge is going to go. All the models say it’s going to get worse before it gets better – the question is, how much worse?”

"We have several patients that are in their 20s and 30s and 40s that have been in the ICU," Johnson said. "I've read several reports that the variants that are out there, the B.117 and others, have been shown to be more severe on the younger age groups.

"So that, coupled with the fact that the higher proportion of the older folks are getting vaccinated, you get like this double-whammy," he said.

Absalon noted that the hospital actually reached zero COVID-19 patient hospitalizations “very briefly” a few months ago But he said they can’t explain fully why the hospital is so full with just half the previous peak of COVID-19 patients, also noting there was “basically no flu season.”

Johnson also said very few of those hospitalized are so-called “breakthrough” cases: “You can count them on one hand, the number that have been in the hospital that are fully vaccinated.”