COVID-19 cases continue to surge at Manatee County hospitals
The number of patients being treated at hospitals in Manatee County continues to surge as more residents become infected with the novel coronavirus.
As of about 4 p.m. Thursday, there were only six available ICU beds between the county’s three hospitals, according to the state’s Agency For Health Care Administration. Five of those beds were at Blake Medical Center and one was at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center.
There were no available ICU beds at Manatee Memorial Hospital.
Manatee Memorial Hospital had 59 patients admitted who are positive for the coronavirus, according to CEO Kevin Dilallo. Five of those patients were in the ICU, 16 were in the hospital’s COVID-only unit and the remaining patients were in pressurized rooms in other parts of the hospital.
Dilallo said some staff members at the hospital have contracted the virus.
“We are also seeing their families get sick,” he said. “That is causing some problems with staffing as well because they may stay home to take care of a spouse or sister, for example.”
Staffing has been a concern for Dilallo, who early on in the pandemic called on the Manatee County Board of Commissioners to do more to stop the spread of the coronavirus and protect the hospital from being overrun.
“Staffing is certainly a concern, not just at Manatee Memorial but at hospitals all along the west coast,” Dilallo said. “I have been talking to several hospitals up and down the coast, and they have the same issues. Their ICUs are full and staffing is a problem.”
Manatee Memorial, along with Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, announced decisions on Wednesday to stop visitation to in-patient units. The exceptions are those in the emergency and obstetrics departments, as well as elective procedures in their outpatient center.
At Blake Medical Center, visitation to inpatient units was halted last week. But beginning Saturday, Blake will be stopping “deferrable surgeries and procedures,” said CEO Randy Currin.
The decision was made to “ensure we have sufficient capacity should the need arise in an abundance of caution,” he explained.
“Our focus day in and day out is to ensure we have ... patient care,” he said. “What we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, is a rise of cases.”
COVID patients at Blake are cared for in critical care, medical or transitional units in the hospital, he said.
Currin declined to say how many COVID-19 patients are currently in the hospital.
Lakewood Ranch Medical Center did respond to request for current information about the number of COVID-19 patients there.
Other medical emergencies don’t stay away
The leaders at Manatee Memorial and Blake urged anyone experiencing medical emergencies not related to COVID-19, not to hesitate or delay in coming to their hospitals.
“Heart attacks and strokes are still happening,” Currin said. “The community came be confident that if they need to seek our service they can do so safely.”
Both hospitals say they have seen the negative outcomes of patients who delayed too much in seeking care. Some have died or have needed longer recuperating times.
“If you’re feeling ill and need medical care, don’t delay,” Dilallo said.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 5:16 PM.
