'Never-ending nightmare': The hospitals where the ICU occupancy stayed high
Early this month, Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta delayed elective surgeries and procedures. The reason: There were so many Covid-19 patients in the hospital's intensive care unit that there was just no room for anyone who isn't seriously ill.
“We have had to postpone some nonessential surgical procedures because we did not have an inpatient bed for them after they had their surgery,” said Dr. Robert Jansen, the Grady Health System chief medical officer.
While the state of Georgia — and the United States as a whole — have been dealing with another surge of Covid cases since August, data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that Grady’s ICU has been full for much longer. Every week, for the past 12 months, it has been 100 percent full. Before the pandemic, Jansen estimated it was full 70 percent of the time.
“ICU capacity is always a challenge,” Jansen said. “What we are now facing is that with a significant number of Covid patients requiring critical care, we are running above capacity. That is not something that is unusual for us on occasion, but right now it's constant.”
Grady's ICU is one of many across the country that have been consistently packed. While Covid cases and deaths have ebbed and flowed nationally, an NBC News analysis of Health and Human Services data shows that 20 hospitals nationwide had full ICUs for more than 52 weeks since the onset of the pandemic. And health experts say these repeated Covid surges create monumental challenges to patients and health care providers.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/never-ending-nightmare-hospitals-where-icu-hospitalizations-stayed-high-n1280318
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Hoping this will not be a problem here. I had esophageal webs removed in 2019. I think they have returned.
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I hope you can get in and see your doctor and all the necessary care that is needed. It's a scary time, thinking that we might not have access to needed things because of others doing the wrong and selfish thing. 