Hospitals brace for latest COVID-19 surge

Iowa’s hospitals are anticipating another surge in COVID-19 patients in the coming weeks.

After a drop in activity following the vaccine rollout, the pandemic is beginning to reemerge in force nationwide as the new highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads, especially among unvaccinated individuals. As of Monday, all but eight counties in Iowa had a “high” or “substantial” level of community transmission, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Iowa saw a 46 percent increase in COVID-19 hospital admissions the week of Aug. 6 when compared to the week before, according to a White House Coronavirus Task Force report.

“We will have a surge, we just don’t know how big it will be,” said Dr. Theresa Brennan, chief medical officer for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Though some health care leaders said vaccines are widespread and the plans in place should prevent the hospitalization levels seen this past fall, other experts suggested it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Iowa’s hospitals could be overwhelmed by another coronavirus surge.

“I do think there’s a potential,” Brennan said. “… I think we are all worried we will have another concern in reaching capacity.”

As of Aug. 4, 214 individuals were hospitalized with COVID-19 — a jump from the 157 hospitalized patients reported the week before. This week’s total also is a big increase from the 46 individuals hospitalized on June 24.

As of late Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Pubic Health’s website listed 355 hospitalizations statewide. That’s the highest number of patients since 360 were recorded on Feb. 4, according to analysis by The Gazette.

That upward trend in hospitalizations also is reflected at Eastern Iowa health care facilities, which have reported a steady increase in COVID-19 admissions in the past two weeks.

After reporting single-digit adult patient numbers in July, the University of Iowa Health Care’s COVID-19 inpatient count climbed to 19 by Tuesday. Of those 19 patients, 12 are under the age of 60, including 10 ranging in age from their 20s to 40s, said Dr. Brad Manning, a UIHC hospitalist.

“Overall this is a younger skew than we saw earlier in the pandemic,” Manning noted.

UIHC also was reporting one pediatric COVID-19 patient on Tuesday. Brennan said there’s nothing health care leaders have seen that would suggest Delta is specifically targeting children differently from other variants, but because its highly transmissible, it’s “spreading must faster in people of all ages.”

“Kids are getting exposed a lot right now because of community transmission rates — because they can’t be vaccinated, they’re at greater risk of getting COVID-19,” Brennan said.

As of Wednesday, UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids had 21 COVID-19 patients. Just two days earlier, officials reported 15 patients.

Mercy Medical Center reported 10 COVID-19 patients Wednesday, with six who were admitted over the weekend.

Before Aug. 2, both Cedar Rapids hospitals reported one or two patients at most, officials said.

“We knew (the Delta variant) would lead to an increase hospitalizations, and that we’ve seen over the last week or so,” said Dr. Tony Myers, chief medical officer at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids.

Myers added, “We anticipate the uptick will continue.”

The highly contagious Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, which was first detected in Iowa in May, became the most dominant strain spreading throughout the state within weeks of its arrival, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported.

Of 397 positive coronavirus tests sequenced by the State Hygienic Lab and other labs in June, 63 percent were Delta variants, according to IDPH. By July, 92 percent of 1,175 specimens included the variant.

As new cases continue to rise, Myers said Mercy Medical is doing contingency planning “in many ways similar to when the pandemic started” including evaluating personal protective equipment stock, testing supplies and preparing for potential changes in the facility.

“Inpatient hospitalized numbers are changing on a daily basis, therefore we are constantly adjusting to be best prepared,” said Dr. Dustin Arnold, UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital chief medical officer. “We do have our surge plans in place, but they have not been activated.”

And after responding to the pandemic for more than a year, health care leaders say their plans are well-tested and their facilities are well prepared.

“It’s not a scramble, it’s a blueprint and it’s ready to go if we need it,” Arnold said.

Still, hospital officials say they’re confident their facilities will not be overwhelmed with COVID-19 admissions the same way they were in October and November, when Iowa experienced its biggest coronavirus surge to date.

Hospital officials largely attribute that to the vaccines. Though the vaccination rate is not high enough to stop the spread of the virus, it will keep thousands of Iowans out of the hospital.

“The vaccine puts us in a much different spot,” Myers said. “There’s no possible way, unless there’s a major new variant that we will get to where we were in October and November. We won’t be overwhelmed.”

As a result, local hospitals say they don’t anticipate they will need to postpone non-emergency surgeries or take other similar measures that they first did in March 2020. However, Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines announced this week nonemergent surgeries temporarily were suspended due to a high patient count.

State and local health officials continue to emphasize the importance of getting vaccinated.

“The vaccine remains the best tool we have to protect ourselves, our families and our communities against COVID-19,” Iowa Department of Public Health spokeswoman Sarah Ekstrand said in a statement. “Vaccine is readily available for all eligible Iowans, including school-age children 12 and up.

“We encourage anyone who still has questions about the vaccine to reach out to their health care provider or local public health.”

Vaccine providers can be found at vaccinate.iowa.gov.

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