ST. LOUIS — St. Louis hit a new single-day hospitalization record on Tuesday with 657 patients in St. Louis hospitals.
As the numbers don't seem to be slowing down, hospitals are gearing up.
Looking at a timeline, if the rates are high now, hospitals could feel the effects in about two weeks.
For Mercy, Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Keith Starke says its surge team, known as the command center, meets daily to see what each facility needs.
"We’ve made adjustments to accommodate the higher volumes," Dr. Starke says.
Starke says they are working to take patients safely at home through its virtual care program.
They would be able to supply them with supplies, such as oxygen.
"We didn’t have that in the past, it’s getting close to being done," Dr. Starke said.
They've also moved equipment, such as ventilators to other hospitals, which has been helpful.
Chief Medical Officer for SSM Health SLU Hospital, Dr. Matt Broom says its plan is to maximize capacity.
"Some systems started to look at outpatient or surgical procedures," he added.
As far as ventilators, Dr. Broom says, "As of today, we are well staffed for ventilator capacity at SLU Hospital and our region."
But he explains they'll continue to do daily evaluations.
Preparations, such as testing and PPE are in good shape, which helps treat patients more timely.
But staffing is the issue.
UMSL's College of Nursing executive director Amanda Finley says, "People are getting sick and there's not enough people to staff at any given point in time."
Finley says they are ready to help and the program graduates 200 students.
Ninety-percent of them head to St. Louis' local hospitals. Many are motivated to step in.
"We are hoping to provide to the workforce in the area that we are," Finley added.
Health officials say to continue to wearing masks, social distancing and washing your hands.
By doing these steps, it can help prevent overwhelming hospitals.
