Alabama man dies after being turned away from 43 hospitals as Covid packs ICUs

Hospitals in Alabama have run out of intensive care unit beds as coronavirus cases spike across the state, forcing workers to make space to treat patients as they wait for open beds. There were 29 more patients than ICU beds available as of Wednesday, an Alabama Department of Public Health spokesperson confirmed to CBS News.

Hospital staffers have been forced to convert hallways, regular patient rooms and emergency spaces into areas where they can treat patients in need of ICU rooms, CBS affiliate WHNT reported. Officials said some patients could be transferred to different hospitals when beds become available.

"We've never been here before. We are truly now in uncharted territory in terms of our ICU bed capacity," Dr. Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, told CBS affiliate WTVY.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/health/2021/08/19/tenn... (Tennessee)

As the coronavirus continues to sweep Tennessee, all intensive care unit beds are currently full at most hospitals in every major metropolitan area in the state, according to the Tennessee Hospital Association.

“This means that if you or a loved one need treatment for any type of serious healthcare, problem like a severe injury, heart attack, or stroke, you may not be able to access the care you need, when you need it,” Long said in a statement on Thursday morning.

https://www.newsweek.com/georgia-icu-beds-now-95-percent-cap... (Georgia)

According to the health department, over 80 percent of emergency department beds are occupied throughout the state, while 86.6 percent of general inpatient beds are being used. Of the state's 14 regions, five are already over ICU capacity, with ICU beds in some parts of west Georgia reporting as high as 115.4 percent capacity, according to WSB-TV.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/08/12/mississippi... (Mississippi)

Mississippi braces for ‘failure’ of hospital system due to covid-19 surge and lack of ICU beds

A surge in coronavirus patients and a shortage of health-care workers and intensive care unit beds have pushed Mississippi’s hospital system to the brink of “failure,” state health officials warned Wednesday, saying drastic federal intervention was needed to help the state grapple with the thousands of new daily infections that have overwhelmed doctors and nurses.

https://www.businessinsider.com/mississippi-hospital-without... (Mississippi)

Memorial Hospital at Gulfport doesn't have enough ICU beds to house patients waiting for brain and heart surgeries, two staffers told Insider. The situation is so dire, the hospital has no choice but to cancel them. In the best case scenario, patients who need these surgeries might wait days to receive one, said Whitney Sutton, registered nurse and ICU manager at Memorial. Some will wait even longer, for periods of up to two weeks.

Interesting to note, that last time that COVID patients were occupying the peak 700-800 bed range, was Jan 2021. Only, back then, there was ~150 more total capacity. Why has total capacity dropped since the start of the year?

No doubt, COVID hospitalizations are spiking, but total beds available are dipping at the same time. Not a good recipe!

[1] https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/hospitalization-7-day-trend...

We've come to the point now that much of the prophylaxis, and outpatient treatment protocols for Covid are being actively suppressed on social media, and in the MSM, despite them being an adjunct, rather than a replacement for vaccination. This is similar to those that are contra-indicated for vaccines due to the pericarditis/mycarditis risk, known allergies, or peculiar side effects of certain vaccines. In my geography there is a local hospital system that is discounting prior severe anaphylaxis from covid injections, and requiring multiple injections and boosters anyways.

On the other hand, some places in flyover country have responded with the opposite tack, minimizing wanting only the politicized drugs, without having a focus on all the tools in the toolbox. Despite flyover country having huge obesity problems, I have yet to see strong mention of getting healthy and keeping BMI in check to reduce risk factors as a good response. It seems like business as usual there.

I believe strongly in science-based approaches towards our response to this crisis, involving both prophylactic/lifestyle changes, outpatient treatment, and vaccinations where indicated by risk level, unless contraindicated, with inpatient care reserved for appropriate need.