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Two hospital systems provided Thanksgiving updates on their coronavirus case burden, both saying cases are increasing at their hospitals but expressing confidence in their ability to deal with the growing case load.
One hospital system said the situation now is “nowhere near what we experienced in March,” and another system echoes that they say they are “within our ability to manage.”
Mount Sinai Health System Medical Director Dr. Vicki LoPachin said in a note Wednesday that coronavirus cases continue to rise in Mount. Sinai health system, but that the current number of cases “is still within our projections and within our ability to handle.”
“Our COVID-19 inpatient census remains at less than 10 percent of what we saw in the peak of the spring,” LoPachin said. “And we don’t think we’ll ever see anything like those previous numbers.”
Dr. Craig Smith, chair of the department of surgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, which is also affiliated with the NewYork-Presbyterian hospital system, said in a message Thursday that the new Covid-19 case curve is “unequivocally positive” but nowhere near “what we experienced in March”.
Smith’s candid updates during the heat of the coronavirus crisis in New York gained a huge following in the spring.
Smith said NYP and CU have a “meticulous plan” for personnel changes if the increase in cases increases rapidly, and that at this time, the systems are nowhere near a level where non-urgent surgeries should be canceled in order to deal with an influx of cases.
Smith also said institutions are in the process of planning “complete plans” for vaccine distribution.
On Wednesday morning, the system had 157 Covid-19 positive patients admitted to its hospitals, 25 of whom were in critical care.
LoPachin warned Mt. Sinai healthcare workers should “relax, recharge, and prepare for the work ahead” as the number of coronavirus cases is expected to rise as some ignore warnings against meeting for the Thanksgiving holiday. Thank you.
“We know that many people will ignore the warnings and unsafe reunions with their families tomorrow, and that patients with new COVID-19 infections resulting from those meetings will arrive at our hospitals in the coming weeks,” LoPachin said. “His family needs him, his colleagues need him, and his patients need him, now more than ever.”
