WA COVID Hospitalizations Reach Highest Point In The Pandemic

WASHINGTON — COVID-19 hospitalizations in Washington have surged to record levels, recently surpassing even the highest peaks reached during the winter wave, officials announced Thursday. The Washington State Hospital Association hosted a news briefing to outline the situation across the state's health care system and issued a public plea for more people to get vaccinated and avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital.

Before the delta-driven surge began, officials said Washington hospitals were caring for 300 to 350 COVID-19 patients on average — a figure that had remained stable for several weeks. Now, that number has quadrupled.

"The highest we ever were was in December, with about 1,100 patients, and right now we are at 1,240 hospitalized patients across Washington state, as of this morning," said Cassie Sauer, president and CEO of the WSHA. "That number has been doubling about every two weeks."

While the most recent days have shown a slight slowdown in new admissions, Sauer said it was too early to know if the trends were plateauing. Officials said the current situation is compounded further by the season, with summer months typically bringing in more trauma patients and leaving little room to spare.

"This is trauma season here at Harborview, this is our busiest time of year," said Mark Taylor, director of Harborview Medical Center's trauma program. "So, anything we can do regarding preventing injury is extremely important."

Washington hospitals continue to work together to manage the load, and transfer patients as needed to prevent any single facility from reaching a crisis point. However, with occupancy rates so high across the board, officials said it's critical to prevent the surge from growing further.

"Care is being provided, they are able to accommodate the numbers of patients coming into the system, but it is extremely important that we do what we can to minimize the COVID impact to this high occupancy. Things like vaccination, things like social distancing, mask-wearing, become extremely important."

To help free up more space, hospitals are also working with the state to expedite placement for "difficult to discharge" patients, including people who have psychiatric needs or require other long-term care. Health officials are also urging more people to get vaccinated and take other precautions in their daily lives to avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital.

"Be careful," Sauer said. "I think this is a time we've seen a lot of trauma. I think the heat and summertime and people's desire to be out doing things ... be careful on your bike, don't climb a ladder ... wear your life jackets, be careful with yourself, be careful with your family, so you don't need trauma care."

With vaccination rates highest among the oldest adults, hospitals have also seen a significant change in the ages of people experiencing serious illness.

"Not only are the numbers high, the types of patients that are coming into the hospital are different than before," said Dr. George Diaz, head of infectious diseases at Everett's Providence Medical Center. "Earlier in the pandemic, we were seeing older patients, frail patients, coming into ICUs. Now we're seeing a much larger number of people that are ages 30 to 39 that are becoming seriously ill, admitted and in the ICU."

Officials said the surge in hospitalizations continues to be overwhelmingly among patients who are unvaccinated. Among the small percentage of breakthrough cases in vaccinated people, most who require hospital care often have weakened immune systems.

"The vast majority of patients coming in now are unvaccinated," Diaz said. "About 5 percent, maybe up to 10 percent, of the patients in the hospital that have been vaccinated are vulnerable patients. These are patients with a history of cancer, leukemia, transplants, who did the right thing and got vaccinated but were exposed in the community and are in the hospital, in the ICU, fighting for their lives."

While statewide vaccination rates are relatively high, with more than 71 percent of the eligible population having at least a first dose, there are hundreds of thousands who remain unprotected, and hospital officials are urging more people to consider getting a shot — for their sake and others.

"We want people to know that vaccines work," Diaz said. "They're safe and effective, and they will prevent much of what's going on now in our hospital. The choices of part of our population to not vaccinate themselves are affecting the most vulnerable in our community that may not respond very well to vaccines, and people that need care for other reasons that have had their care postponed."