Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital capacity has been a major concern. Early on, a lot of restrictions and closures were based on the potential for hospitals to quickly exceed the number of beds available and the number of staff available to tend to those patients.
Grays Harbor County hospitals have been able to manage their COVID patients throughout the pandemic.
“Good news, we went from five last week down to only two new COVID-19 patients this week,” said Harbor Regional Health Community Hospital spokesman Chris Majors. “Bed count as of first thing (Friday) morning was one with current staffing levels.”
The number of “available beds” isn’t just about beds, it’s about the number of available staff to tend to the patients that occupy them. Friday morning, Majors said the hospital was anticipating a number of discharges and the arrival of the swing staff to raise that number to five or six available beds later in the day.
Elma’s Summit Pacific Medical Center has 10 inpatient rooms, “and our daily census has been 5-9 patients over the past week,” said hospital spokeswoman Nichole Pas Thursday. “On April 30, we had three COVID positive patients and the rest of the week just one” per day. That included no new COVID patients admitted Thursday.
One of the two metrics used to determine to what extent a county can reopen by the state in its phased reopening plan is the number of new COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 population over a week’s time. For a county the size of Grays Harbor, that number has to be below five to remain in Phase 3, the current phase.
The higher-than-usual influx of COVID patients observed at the end of April and first day or two of May seems to have, for now, tapered off.
“We are hopeful that it was just a mini-wave of new patients and that people realized it’s not over yet and have decided to act more safely again,” said Majors. “It is hard with a bit of spring arriving and everything feeling fresh and new. This contrasts with the drudgery of the pandemic, so I do understand the drive to feel free, but unfortunately COVID has not let go, and not enough people are vaccinated so it is likely these cycles will continue until we reach population immunity.”
Population, or “herd” immunity, according to the CDC, is 70%. It’s a target that is being used by health officials to determine when the pandemic will be considered under control and when restrictions can be lifted, or at least lessened. It can be achieved naturally, but vaccinations will lead more quickly to that level of immunity, and help stave off COVID-19 variants.
“If we try to do this without vaccination we risk a much higher chance for new more powerful variants, more hospitalizations, a more suppressed economy for longer, and most tragically more of our family, friends and neighbors dying,” said Majors.
County vaccination numbers
Vaccination efforts have spread throughout the county, even as demand has dropped. While the county’s mass vaccination site at the Port of Grays Harbor has ceased first-dose clinics for the time being, the regional Incident Management Organization has held clinics in Westport and Ocean Shores, and most local pharmacies are offering vaccinations, some to walk-up clients.
Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday there was hope for the return of more normal activities this summer if vaccination rates climb. As of May 3, 51,295 total vaccine doses had been given in the county, 38.3% of the total county population had received a first dose, and 29.67% fully vaccinated.
Break that down by population age 16 and older, who are the only age groups qualified for the vaccines available in the county now, and the total that has received a first dose is 46.67%; 36.15% of that population is fully vaccinated.
To find a vaccine closest to you, go to the state Department of Health vaccine locator, vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov, and type in your zip code. Grays Harbor County Public Health is also making plans for clinics at their location at 2109 Sumner Ave. in Aberdeen, and continuing to explore ways to reach the homebound, their families and caregivers. As clinics are scheduled, registration links will be posted at healthygh.org/covid-vaccine, or you can call the resource center at 360-964-1850 to schedule an appointment.
Case numbers
During the week of April 29-May 5, 73 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Grays Harbor County; the previous week’s total was 74. One of the governor’s metrics in the state’s phased reopening plan — put on a two-week hold earlier this week, leaving Grays Harbor County in Phase 3 — is new cases over the previous two weeks per 100,000 population. To remain in Phase 3, the number has to be less than 200. That number here as of Wednesday was 183.4, identical to the previous week.
On Friday, April 30, state data adjustments had dropped the county death total to 62; however, one new death was reported in the county May 3, bringing the total for the pandemic back up to 63. The rate of deaths per confirmed case remains at 1.6%, slightly above the state rate of 1.4%. According to state data, there were six COVID-related hospitalizations for the week, down from 10 the previous week.
