Staff shortages and profiteering are besetting Georgia hospitals as the pandemic climbs its third wave. A vaccine is cause for hope but not lost vigilance.
Those are some of the few things Georgia hospital CEO’s can know for sure as December begins and COVID-19′s toll has climbed well past 8,000 in the state. They met with Gov. Brian Kemp at the state Capitol Wednesday to take stock of the situation.
“As the colder months approach, we’ve got to continue to remain vigilant,” Kemp said.
“Socially distance, wear a mask or stay at home, and let’s continue to mitigate the spread. But we cannot take our foot off the gas just because we’re going to have a vaccine in a couple of weeks or 30 days or so.”
The third pandemic wave is currently hitting Georgia less severely than almost all states, data indicates. No one can be sure whether that means Georgia’s hospitalizations will level off, or if the state will follow the same trend of the other states, just later. But the timing isn’t encouraging.
All of the hospital executives — from metro Atlantans like Piedmont CEO Kevin Brown and Wellstar CEO Candice Saunders to those from other parts of Georgia — said they were pressed with patients, including patients that have nothing to do with COVID-19. More than one had seen a dramatic upsurge in trauma cases.
Grady Health System’s trauma volumes last month were double those of November 2019. Trauma cases of all types increased, a system spokeswoman said, particularly those resulting from gun violence.
All that leads to an even more stressed system as the hospitals brace for both flu season and whatever the pandemic holds this winter.
A Gainesville-based hospital system said in a news release Wednesday separate from the meeting that the trend was clear.
“Both the percentage of tests coming back positive and the number of people who need to be admitted to the hospital have been steadily climbing all month —to today’s record high for the system,” said Dr. Clifton Hastings, chief of medical staff for Northeast Georgia Medical Center. “We’re headed for a new peak and the only question is, how high will this peak be?”
“I think the biggest issue we’re facing...is the staffing,” Loy Howard, CEO of Tanner Health System, told the governor. “We just can’t get the vaccine soon enough.”
It’s not the only issue, though. Scott Steiner, CEO of Albany-based Phoebe Putney Health System, is facing a rapid-testing company refusing to supply precious testing components called reagents right now —that is, unless Phoebe agrees to a contract mandating two more years of purchases.
“The ...COVID test is now part of a panel,” a group of several tests that company is selling as a package, Steiner said. “We don’t need the panel. We need the...test for COVID. But the panel is of course two or three or four times as expensive as just that test is. And now they’re wanting us to sign up for two years. And to take a quantity for two years every month.”
“It’s not exactly what we need today,” Steiner said.
