Hermiston herald., March 18, 2020, Page 7, Image 7

NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
Offi cials work to prepare hospitals for expected surge in patients
By JAKE THOMAS
OREGON CAPITAL BUREAU
In the face of an exponen-
tially expanding virus, St.
Anthony Hospital in Pend-
leton declared its own ver-
sion of a state of emergency
on Monday.
St. Anthony President
Harry Geller told a small
Rotary
Club
audience
that the hospital’s “exter-
nal disaster plan” would
allow the hospital to access
medical equipment from
a national inventory and
expand the number of hos-
pital beds it has available to
address the coronavirus.
Geller said St. Antho-
ny’s 25 beds were almost
all being used Monday, but
the hospital could expand to
60 beds in anticipation of a
surge of COVID-19 cases. If
needed, Geller said the hos-
pital could erect tents in the
parking lot to create more
room for coronavirus cases.
As another measure,
Geller said St. Anthony can-
celed many of its elective
surgeries this week to free
up medical equipment for
potential COVID-19 cases.
The coronavirus has the
potential to be far deadlier
than the seasonal fl u, with
Geller pointing out that the
current U.S. mortality rate
for COVID-19 was 1.7%
while the fl u’s rate was
0.1%. He added that it was
hard to draw a “distinct con-
clusion” from the numbers,
but “simple math” showed
that the coronavirus had 17
times the mortality rate as
infl uenza.
“Right now, in the United
States, we have 4,200 posi-
tive COVID cases. … That
number is doubling every six
days. It’s increasing expo-
nentially, and that’s where
the CDC is concerned,” he
said.
Good Shepherd
In Hermiston, Good
Shepherd Medical Center
announced visiting restric-
tions Tuesday.
“Until further notice,
FAST FACTS ABOUT COVID-19
Number of Oregonians who have tested positive: 65
Known cases in the United States: 5,303*
U.S. deaths of known COVID-19 patients: 96*
Most common symptoms: Coughing, fever, shortness of
breath, fatigue
Why health offi cials are concerned: The COVID-19 strain
of the coronavirus appears to be more contagious than
the fl u and kills a higher percentage of people who catch
it (somewhere between 1% and 3%, compared to .01% for
the fl u). Social distancing measures being put into place will
help the more serious cases that require hospitalization to
be reduced and spread out over a longer period of time, al-
lowing hospitals to keep up with the demand for ventilators
and other life-saving resources.
*According to the New York Times tally of each state’s report-
ed cases, as of 3 p.m. Tuesday
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Good Shepherd Medical Center’s sign in Hermiston advertises restricted visiting during the
COVID-19 crisis.
GSHCS is strongly encour-
aging community members
not to visit campus unless
they require health care ser-
vices,” the release stated.
Visitors are limited to
one person per patient, and
children under 13 are not
allowed as a visitor unless
they are visiting a single
parent.
Anyone
seeking
non-emergency medical care
from Good Shepherd Health
Care System should call
ahead. All patients should
enter the campus on the Elm
Street entrance for screen-
ing, and only certain build-
ing entrances will be open.
Between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
only the Emergency Room
entrance will be unlocked.
All Education Depart-
ment classes and activities
are suspended until further
notice.
Good Shepherd Clinic
Pharmacy will provide free
prescription delivery ser-
vices to patients’ house-
holds. Patients should call
541-667-3652 to make
arrangements for deliveries,
or for curbside pick-up of
medications at Entrance C.
“The community’s part-
nership in helping us reduce
the number of people in
our facilities will allow us
to focus on caring for our
patients,” Jodi Gavel, Good
Shepherd infection preven-
tionist, said in a statement.”
These containment efforts
our health care system has
put into place, along with
the restrictions set forth by
our state, will help reduce
the spread of infectious dis-
ease in our communities.”
Statewide
As the coronavirus con-
tinues to spread in Oregon,
the state is on a path to run
out of hospital beds particu-
larly by next month without
a signifi cant slowing of the
disease or drastic response
by public health offi cials.
Gov. Kate Brown and
her health team Monday
afternoon announced new
statewide restrictions while
mapping out a plan to boost
the capacity of hospitals
to deal with the expected
wave of patients infected
with COVID-19.
She banned gatherings
of 25 or more — a sub-
stantial change from ear-
lier prohibitions of gather-
ings of 250 or more. She
ordered restaurants and
bars to stop sit-down din-
ing, but allowed them to
provide delivery or takeout
service.
“Isolation from our
friends and neighbors is
the only way to fl atten the
curve of transmission and
get Oregon through this,”
Brown said.
The state now has a total
of 65 people who have been
diagnosed with COVID-19,
as of Tuesday afternoon.
“I know it’s diffi cult
to learn that we are see-
ing more active commu-
nity spread of COVID-19,
but this is something we’ve
been expecting,” said Dr.
Dean Sidelinger, the state
health offi cer and epide-
miologist. “It’s a good
reminder to take steps to
protect yourself, and vul-
nerable friends and fam-
ily members, by washing
your hands, covering your
coughs and sneezes, and
staying home and away
from others if you’re sick.”
State health offi cials
revealed the results of
modeling done by Oregon
Health and Science Uni-
versity of how the pan-
demic virus will hit Ore-
gon. They repeated earlier
forecasts of 75,000 infected
Oregonians but added that
they expected the num-
ber of known cases to dou-
ble every six days without
strong action.
Dr. Dana Hargunani, the
chief medical offi cer for
the Oregon Health Author-
ity, starkly explained what
would happen if a spike in
cases can’t be averted.
“We will not be able to
save everyone,” Hagunani
said.
She said physicians could
face “heartbreaking deci-
sions” as Oregon “a stark
new phase” with the virus.
Dr. Renee Edwards,
OHSU chief medical offi -
cer, said the modeling
showed Oregon would need
an additional 1,000 hospital
beds and 400 intensive care
unit beds to accommodate
the surge. The state’s 62
hospitals have 6,600 beds.
Edwards said that 20%
of those who contract
COVID-19 would require
hospitalization.
Oregon needs to quickly
add hospital beds across the
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state to cope.
She said that OHSU,
for example, could need
80 ICU beds for expected
COVID-19 patients by
mid-April — double what
it has.
“This happens to be near
our current ICU capacity,”
she said. “And on a normal
day, our ICU is already full
of Oregonians who need
critical care, even without
the COVID crisis.”
Brown said the state
intended
to
“expand
bed capacity by adding
beds in non-hospital set-
tings,” although she didn’t
elaborate.
Oregon has one of the
lowest per-capita bed rates
nationally. The state has
just 1.6 hospital beds per
1,000 people, according to
data from the Kaiser Fam-
ily Foundation.
In Portland, Kaiser Per-
manente, Legacy Health,
Providence Health and
OHSU plan to operate as
a single entity to build
capacity, coordinate med-
ical responses and prevent
a shortage of hospital beds.
While the effort is based
in the Portland area, Brown
said it could function as a
model for the rest of the
state.
Staff writers Antonio
Sierra and Jade McDowell
contributed to this report.