ST. LOUIS — Rising COVID cases have doctors concerned, especially since a Mercy doctor said this isn’t even the peak of the latest surge. Dr. Farrin Manian said his concerns are climbing with every case and expects cases to peak in a few weeks.
With hospital beds 90% full and building fatigue in health care workers, he’s hoping the health care system holds out.
“We are trying to keep our spirits up,” Dr. Manian said. “We are optimistic we are doing the right things, increasing vaccination rate, appropriate precautions like masking and social distancing. We will get over this."
He said delta variant cases are dominating right now but he’s concerned about other variations on the horizon.
"To be honest, there’s always a chance some of the newer strains will be as contagious or (potentially worse)," he said.
He calls for more guidelines to be put in place in order to slow the spread of the transmission. The doctor said if we slow the spread we can save lives.
He’s also concerned about the strain the virus is putting on the health care system and the possibility that people with other ailments won’t get the treatment they need.
On Tuesday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported the following data across task force hospitals:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased – from 81 Monday to 70 Tuesday.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 78 Monday to 79 Tuesday.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 476 Monday to 487 Tuesday.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 502 Monday 517 Tuesday.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 40 Monday to 38 Tuesday.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 148 Monday to 157 Tuesday.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators increased – from 88 Monday to 90 Tuesday.
- The number of COVID deaths increased – from 4 Monday to 7 Tuesday.
- The seven-day moving average of COVID deaths remained the same at 7 Tuesday.
- Across the system hospitals, 83 patients were discharged Monday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 24,858.
- Tuesday, staffed bed hospital capacity is at 90% an average across our task force hospitals. The ICUs are at 82% of their total staffed bed capacity.