Hospital CEOs worry about staff burnout as Tri-Cities sees 212 new COVID cases, 1 death

The Tri-Cities topped 17,000 confirmed positives of COVID-19 on Friday, nine months after the first cases were identified in Eastern Washington.

The 17,027 total includes 212 new cases reported by the Benton Franklin Health District.

Benton County continued with its triple-digit numbers this week, increasing 134 for 9,557 coronavirus cases during the pandemic.

Across the river in Franklin County, 78 residents got word of positive tests results for a total now of 7,470.

The rate in Benton County is 738 per 100,000 for the two weeks through Dec. 4. In Franklin County, 1,095 cases per 100,000 were reported for the same two-week period.

Case rates are figured based on when symptoms occurred or tests were done, causing a delay in data.

Health officials, who have said progress in slowing the spread was erased by Thanksgiving travel and gatherings, announced Friday one more death in a local resident.

The Franklin County woman was in her 60s. She reportedly had underlying health conditions that have been linked to the risk of a severe case of the coronavirus.

The health district said 210 Tri-Citians now have died from complications of COVID-19 — 141 in Benton County and 69 in Franklin County.

Also, one day after reporting that 90.2 percent of all hospital beds in the two counties were being occupied, that number slightly dipped to 88.9 percent.

The Washington state Department of Health wants to see fewer than 80 percent of beds in use to ensure hospital readiness.

There are 410 patients admitted to hospitals in Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and Prosser. Of those patients, 68 are being treated for the virus — or 16.6 percent of the total — which is down five people from Thursday.

And in long-term care facilities, 12 more residents and staff members tested positive, bringing the pandemic’s total to 696, said the health district.

Concerns over beds, staff

The high bed rate and staffing levels to treat all those patients were topics discussed Friday morning by the chief executive officers of the area’s two biggest hospitals during a Tri-City Development Council Coffee with Karl webcast.

“We haven’t reached the same peak as we did in summer but we are experiencing trepidation,” said Reza Kaleel, CEO of Kadlec Regional Medical Center. “Every time we have a major holiday there is a bump in numbers and a bump in hospitalizations.”

But Kaleel and John Solheim of Trios Health both echoed that bed capacity data doesn’t accurately reflect the landscape within hospital walls.

“The number of physical beds is probably the least of our concerns,” said Kaleel. “It’s really staff for those beds. How many staff you have and how burned out and tired they are — or even if they are quarantined because of exposure.”

Kaleel added that while providers such as doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists get most of the attention, it takes all staff in the hospital to manage care. Environmental services — or housekeeping — is needed to ready beds and rooms for patients under stricter protocols and facilities are needed to keep the building systems working.

Solheim said that the broader picture is where the focus is: cooperating with regional hospitals and managing overall functioning of the hospitals while serving all patients, and not just COVID patients.

“The biggest thing with us is ER numbers are down, but when they come to ER the admission rate is dramatic,” said Solheim.

The index on measuring people’s level of illness has gone through the roof, he said.

He emphasized that hospitals are one of the safest places to be, but he’s seeing people delay care because they are scared.

Kaleel agreed, saying that a comparison of bed capacity between this year and last is not an indication of what the staff is dealing with.

“The number of patients may be the same, but they are sicker,” he said.

“We are working through all sorts of protocols with PPE and managing infectious disease that makes people’s jobs more stressful. You’ve got a tired workforce, (and) you’ve got less access to staff to staff the same number of patients.”

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 3,538 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 while deaths dropped by 166 Thursday.

DOH said in a statement Thursday evening that it will now only report deaths that have an official registered cause and no longer use preliminary cause of death.

“These changes will streamline the process as death counts increase,” DOH said. “Deaths due to factors other than COVID-19 can be hard to definitively rule out. For many of these conditions, COVID-19 may have hastened the death. These are the deaths we are reviewing, along with local health jurisdictions, to assess COVID-19’s impact on the death.”

Pierce County reported 722 cases Thursday and two new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 256 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 192,413 cases and 2,850 deaths, up from 189,625 cases and down from 3,016 deaths Wednesday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019. The DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.

Hospitalizations continue to increase with 89 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 admitted to Washington state hospitals on Nov. 21, the most recent date with complete data. Preliminary data indicates average daily admittances were 106 in early December. Average daily hospitalizations previously peaked during the April surge at 78.

Approximately 12.4% (1,166) of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients on Thursday. In the state’s intensive care units, 22.2% (262) of staffed adult beds were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

On Nov. 29, the most recent date with testing data, 7,682 specimens were collected statewide, with 15.4% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 15.8%. More than 3.2 million tests have been conducted in Washington.

The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction tests, which are administered while the virus is presumably still active in the body.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 51,596 cases and 894 deaths. Spokane County is second, with 20,194 cases. Snohomish County has the second highest number of deaths at 302

All counties in Washington have cases. Only four counties have case counts of fewer than 100.

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 37 per 100,000 people. The national rate for the same period is 63.3 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rhode Island has the highest rate in the United States, at 125.6. Hawaii is the lowest, at 6.6.

There have been more than 15.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 292,091 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Thursday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 1.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 69 million.

Craig Sailor of The (Tacoma) News Tribune contributed to this report.