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ND medical officers promote vaccines to stem COVID-19 surge

Medical officers promote vaccines to stem COVID-19 surge

BISMARCK — A 33% vaccination rate in Williams County has contributed to half the patients in the Williston hospital now testing positive for COVID-

19, according to the medical director for CHI Health Midwest District.

Dr. Cary Ward with CHI joined officials from the state’s other four major medical systems at Gov. Doug Burgum’s virtual press briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday.

“Other states with comparatively low vaccination rates, like North Dakota, are seeing their hospital capacity stretched to the limit,” Burgum said. “We want to make sure that North Dakotans know that the risk is real, that with the low vaccination rates we have in parts of our state, that we could be finding ourselves in that same kind of position. So this is a readiness call to the citizens. We don’t want North Dakota ever to reach that point.”

About 52% of North Dakotans aged 12 and older who are eligible for a vaccine have received a first dose. North Dakota ranks 42nd nationally in its rate of vaccination.

The state’s active COVID-19 cases reached 2,442, as reported by the North Dakota Department of Health Wednesday. Of those, 135 were hospitalized.

“Our largest numbers are in our western hospitals in Williston and Dickinson and then also in Bismarck,” said Ward, whose health system includes 10 North Dakota hospitals that together reported 43 cases Wednesday. CHI’s Williston hospital had 10 patients in its COVID-19 unit, up from eight patients at last year’s statewide COVID-19 peak, he said.

At the end of July, Williams County had about 24 COVID-19 cases, which rose to 138 in the Sept. 1 report.

“Numbers are clearly increasing. Beds are tight. Nurses are stressed,” Ward said.

Burgum provided graphs that showed North Dakota’s rise in COVID-19 exceeding the rise seen at this same time a year ago, just before the state saw its dramatic peak.

Burgum noted one in 180 fully vaccinated citizens have tested positive for COVID-19, compared to 1 in 16 unvaccinated citizens. North Dakota’s vaccination rate is lower in western counties.

“This is important because we’re now seeing that the active cases in the state are matching to the areas of low vaccination,” Burgum said. “Most of our hospital capacity for treating COVID is in the east, not the west.”

Hospital officials report working together to move patients around to facilities with capacity.

“We’re trying to work together as health systems to do the best we can for our patients,” said Dr. Jeffrey Sather, chief of medical staff at Trinity Health, Minot. “But the number of patients and the limits of staff have decreased the ability to continue doing that long term.

“We need the public to work diligently again to be our partner, and get vaccinated if you’re not vaccinated. Start to do some mitigation, like masks in public or decrease gatherings and go back to some social distancing, so we can get through this next spike,” he said.

Janice Hamscher, chief nursing officer with Altru Health System in Grand Forks, where 10 people were hospitalized with COVID Wednesday, said collaboration among hospitals only goes so far.

“We really don’t have unlimited resources,” she said. “So I’m making a plea for individuals to really take personal responsibility to protect yourself from COVID by getting the vaccine.”

Essentia Health in Fargo has seen COVID-19 patient numbers increase from one or two inpatients a day to nearly 10% of its inpatient population.

“We’ve had to decline transfers from hospitals seeking higher levels of care. Nearly every day we’re at capacity,” said Dr. Richard Vetter, chief medical officer for Essentia.

Unlike a year ago when people postponed care during the COVID-19 surge, he said, the latest increase comes when healthcare providers are busy and capacity is stretched.

Burgum added the ability to access traveling nurses also is more restricted than a year ago because of competition from other areas seeing COVID-19 surges and a high cost for which there isn’t the former federal assistance.

Sather said Trinity providers review elective surgery schedules daily to triage and determine whether other hospital staffing needs outweigh the need for certain surgeries.

“We have postponed some surgeries for patients already because of that need,” he said, adding there is discussion starting on where to best use clinic staff as well.

Sanford Health in Fargo has cut surgeries by about 30% to free staff to handle patients transferred from other facilities, according to Sanford officials.

Dr. Michael LeBeau, outgoing president and CEO of Sanford Health’s Bismarck region, said the health system has revived its ethics committees.

“We’re preparing to make difficult decisions like we had to last time. Those decisions include, ‘Who gets the next bed? Who gets the next ventilator? And how many patients can you truly take care of with limited number of staff,'” he said.

Todd Schaffer, incoming president and CEO of Sanford’s Bismarck region, listed 136 COVID-19 patients currently in Sanford’s system in North Dakota and parts of Minnesota and South Dakota. Only seven of those patients were vaccinated. Of the 136 patients, 37 are in intensive care, with two of those vaccinated. Of 19 people on ventilators, all but one are unvaccinated.

Sather reported 24 patients in Trinity’s COVID-19 wing on Wednesday, with three in ICU and two on ventilators.

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