WA Medical Association Calls On Inslee To Declare State Of Crisis

SEATTLE — When COVID-19 case counts rise, hospitalizations are never far behind. Now, as the state's COVID-19 case counts skyrocket to unprecedented levels, hospitals are beginning to feel the sting, and medical leaders say: it's time to declare a crisis before this gets worse.

The Washington State Medical Association — an organization representing over 12,000 physicians, residents, medical students, and physician assistants across Washington — on Thursday delivered a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee and Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah, asking the two to formally declare a statewide crisis to address overloaded hospitals. The letter, signed by Washington State Medical Association President Mika Sinanan and Washington Chapter – American College of Emergency Physicians President C. Ryan Keay, says the state cannot afford to wait any longer.

"The time has come to officially make the call; we are in a state of crisis," the letter opens. "As physicians, we know when we can do no more for our patients, and that time is now. We are effectively operating crisis capacity strategies throughout our health care system. Our emergency departments are overrun, our hospitals are full. We are emotionally and physically exhausted."

COVID-19 hospitalizations have nearly doubled over the last month: According to a Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) briefing Thursday, the state averaged 1,248 hospitalized COVID-19 patients over the past week. A month ago, that 7-day average was just 664 patients.

The surge in hospitalizations has largely been driven by the arrival of the omicron coronavirus variant, which has pushed case counts past previous records. On the week ending Dec. 18, the state was averaging more than 5,200 cases per day— and case counts have likely only grown in the weeks since.

While the omicron variant appears to be less-likely to cause serious illness than delta or other variants, the sheer number of new infections means hospitalizations and deaths are still on the rise as well.

"When you have a lot of people who are testing positive, unfortunately, you have a portion of those who are going to have severe disease and are going to be hospitalized and we're starting to see that strain," said Secretary Shah at the Washington State Department of Health's weekly briefing Thursday.

To keep hospitals from drowning under this newest wave of patients, Sinanan and Keay say the state will need to take drastic measures, or else hospitals will need to begin turning patients away.

"The time has come to admit that stopping electives and non-urgent care is not enough. We must declare the crisis that our health system is in, provide resources to the health care community and immediately work to free up capacity in our hospitals now in order to mitigate the effects of the current surge."

The letter goes on to make several suggestions that could help mitigate the issue, including:

• Mobilizing the national guard to help with staffing shortages in both long-term care facilities and hospitals.
• Increasing the budget for the Department of Social and Health Services to immediately hire more staff.
• Continuing and bolstering incentives to long-term care providers for serving patients as they are discharged from hospitals.
• Addressing barriers to guardianship for patients who are ready to be discharged, and allow family members to agree to transfers.

Shah and Inslee have not publicly responded to the request, but Shah did note at Thursday's briefing that hospitals were in a tough spot.

"We recognize that our hospitalizations will be very stretched, and will be increasing over the next several weeks, so it's going to likely get worse," Shah said.

While the state figures out how to address rising hospitalizations, health leaders continue to ask all Washingtonians to do their part to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by wearing masks, practicing social distancing, and getting their vaccine and booster shots.