Sanford and Avera hospitals are reaching the breaking point under the uncontrolled crush of coronavirus cases:
“We are not in a good place right now and we are not safe. We have more cases in our area than ever,” says Sanford’s Dr. Susan Hoover.
Hoover and Avera’s Dr. Jennifer McKay were on KELO Radio’s It’s Your Business Show with Bill Zortman, giving the latest on the pandemic and the medical response.
Dr. McKay says hospital bed capacity is tight at Avera.
“The biggest issue at this point is being on a ventilator and being in ICU and those beds are the most difficult to come by” [Mark Russo, “Sanford, Avera Challenged by Surge,” KELO Radio, 2020.11.11].
Rapid City’s health system is also in trouble. Monument Health VP Dr. Shankar Kurra went on NPR yesterday and said the outbreak here is so bad that we might have to adopt North Dakota’s radical policy of letting health care workers who test positive stay on the job
CHANG: OK, well, North Dakota’s governor said this week that health care workers who are positive for COVID-19 but are not showing symptoms will still be allowed to keep working in COVID units in order to deal with their staffing shortages. And I’m wondering, do you expect to see something like that happen in South Dakota soon?
KURRA: That’s a possibility. And, you know, it’s – mathematics of infection are very clear. You have a community-wide outbreak right now. We are one of the rampant spread states. And when you have that kind of a community-wide spread with positivity rates in the high 20s and 30s, the likelihood of any of your workers falling ill and therefore unable to either take care of folks or be required to is distinctly possible.
CHANG: Well, as you mentioned, the proportion of positive tests in your state is now hovering around 20%. As a comparison, you know – as you know, public health experts generally say the virus is under pretty good control if the positivity rate is lower than 5%. So what does that 20% positivity rate in South Dakota signal to you as a hospital professional for what’s to come in the weeks ahead?
KURRA: Yeah, and we are entering into the flu season, and that’s our biggest concern. And we’ve been exhorting all our communities to get the flu shot. But the real risk here is at the rate of roughly 23% or so statewide of positive rates, what I can conclude and we all can conclude epidemiologically, the spread is uncontrolled. There’s no mitigation or suppression, and – which means coming into November, December and January, this is sad to say, but we will see an increase in cases and increase in hospitalizations. Our biggest worry from a hospital standpoint is to maintain capacity, be able to take care of critically ill folks that need ICU level of care and will quickly run out of that if these numbers continue. And that seems to be the direction based on this high positivity rate [Ailsa Chang, “South Dakota Doctor on How His Hospital Is Strained as Coronavirus Cases Surge,” NPR: All Things Considered, 2020.11.11].
In response, Governor Kristi Noem has joined Parler and MeWe, where she can lie about South Dakota’s pandemic and health care capacity without annoying fact checks.
I would assume that as COVID-19 spreads throughout the state our hospital system would be stressed. Plus the flu season is coming along, and those patients usually need some beds too. But I’m having trouble seeing how we’ve already reached capacity.
If I go to the State’s COVID-19 page and click on “tables” and then click on “hospital capacity” I am seeing that we have 30-some % beds available (as of today at least). I do see that the Black Hills area has relatively low hospital bed capacity (9.4%), but I’m not seeing that for the Sioux Falls area.
What am I missing here?
@Timoteo “what am I missing here?
https://dakotafreepress.com/2020/11/11/sd-officials-including-neonatal-beds-in-icu-capacity-counts/
Timoteo – What TAG said, Plus they’re including Avera Heart Hospital beds, but the heart hospital isn’t letting anyone with COVID in.
Also – in case anyone doesn’t know it – Sioux Falls hospitals are already allowing (demanding?) asymptomatic COVID-19 health care workers keep working. It’s just not officially announced. And health care workers are already working 60 hours a week.
Yes, it’s reaching the breaking point.
“The virus is building a real populist coalition.”
https://twitter.com/timothypmurphy/status/1326878618828541953
I would hope Noem and Tenhaken demonstrate some leadership here by hosting their own covid-swapping party. After all what’s a herd without an alpha?
Meanwhile, I just sent this letter to Senator John Thune:
Dear Senator Thune:
I read your quote in a Politico article today that one of the reasons why you are enabling the President to maintain baseless charges of widespread election fraud is that “We need his voters. And he has a tremendous following out there. Right now, he’s trying to get through the final stages of his election and determine the outcome there. But when that’s all said and done, however it comes out, we want him helping in Georgia.”
May I make a suggestion? How about you quit focusing on Georgia and focus on South Dakota for a change? How about if you speak to our Governor and our mayors about our coronavirus crisis? About skyrocketing cases, hospitalizations, deaths here in South Dakota? I have not heard you say one word about any of that, and yet you are our Senator, one of our major representatives in Washington, where the President is ignoring anything to do with the pandemic. He’s ignoring everything but his own grievances. But soon he will be gone, and you will remain, and you and your fellow senators need to address the actual problems we are in. I urge you to begin today to take your eyes off of other states’ political battles and focus on the needs of your constituents.
Feel free to copy and send it to Senator Thune yourselves, if you’d like.
Cory has done a very good job of exposing the truth here. Why do the hospitals lie? Because the administration tells them to. Don’t be alarmed folks, there are shortages of healthy healthcare workers that are not infected with the trump virus. There are shortages of ICU beds (unless you’re a midget that can fit into one of these wee little beds). masks and other PPE. Just keep up the pretense that all is well in GNOem world while you listen the their lies.
Eve,
I’ve sent so many letters to Thune and Rounds, and each time all I get is, “As you know…,” and then a list of GOP talking points, never addressing the questions I ask. For these clowns, I have run out of printable words to describe my impression of their worthlessness. I’d love to write to Johnnie to ask when he will be allowed to inform the citizens of SD they have a new President-elect. When he is released by his handlers, I would guess. :-(
Something else too. Even if there are beds, whose gonna man them? Healthcare workers are in short supply thanks to the poor way we do healthcare in this country and in particular, this state. We depend on high dollar traveling nurses, and that ain’t working.
““While we have beds, those beds are only as good as the staff that you can place around them. There are hospitals at this point that have, at a given time, been unable to do admits,” Dillon said.” coronavirus-soars-hospitals-hope-avoid-an-agonizing-choice-who-gets-care-who-goes-home Washington Post 11/11/2020
The state report on available hospital beds is highly misleading. The fact is that hospitals are being stretched to adequately staff ICU and critical care units. With the virus rampaging across the country, there is a shortage of temporary healthcare workers who might otherwise be available to come to South Dakota.
Governor Noem has failed to lead responsibly since embarking on a campaign to expand her presence on conservative media and campaigning for Trump. In her latest PSA she blithely advises South Dakotans to use “common sense” in responding to the virus rather than recommending that people mask up and socially distance in public. A good leader provides direction and acts in the best interests of the people she leads. During a game, does a coach merely advise the team to use common sense? Does a police officer directing traffic around an accident only hold up a sign to use common sense? Does a platoon leader in battle limit directives to use common sense? Of course not. Governor Noem needs to lead responsibly by at least strongly encouraging South Dakotans to mask up and socially distance in public.
Actually, there ARE patients with COVID in the Avera Heart Hospital in their ICU beds. They are patients that were already there for heart reasons, but also were diagnosed with COVID. I don’t know if they will stay there, or get moved out, but they are there now. Not arguing for or against a cover-up, but I do have some knowledge of these patients through my wife’s job, so I thought I’d share.
Loren, that’s why I waste my time on Facebook, because, even though I’m sure Rounds, Thune, and No-mind never read my comments, it still gives me a warm feeling to tell them how utterly worthless they are on their official FB pages.
Eve, excellent letter. I will copy and paste to Thune’s page, but probably not on yesterday’s feel-good Veteran’s Day post. Even though all Republican politicians are the Kings and Queens of disrespect themselves, I figure I can give Thune (who deserves zero respect) a smidge of fake respect when he’s talking about his dad’s service to this country. I gave up a long time ago on trying to get them to listen to anything I mail or email them. FB sucks ass, but other non-rightwing nutjobs might get a kick out of one of us criticizing our so-called “leaders”.
Reason and logic suggest that one has to seriously doubt hospitals are falsifying information and reports about COVID related matters. There seems to be no particular reason for them to do so. Even if some hospital administrators are Kristi or Trump supporters, not all are in that group and it would take a real effective conspiracy to quiet honest non-supporters and make them co-conspirators in a plan to put out false COVID information.
I have heard arguments from Trumpist and COVID deniers that doctors and hospitals are motivated by money to provide false reports about COVID deaths and other COVID related matters. For example, it is argued that for every COVID death reported a doctor makes more money so doesn’t it stand to reason that doctors would fudge reports? The simple truth is that most doctors and administrators probably realize that doing this to fraudulently claim Medicare, Medicaid or other COVID money would be a federal felony. It seems pretty naïve to think a doctor would risk a felony conviction, prison term and loss of professional license simply to steal a few extra COVID dollars. Any doctor who would do that seems likely to already be scamming Medicare and Medicaid and logically wouldn’t want to risk increasing the chances of being discovered committing yet another federal felony by illegally claiming COVID dollars, especially in light of current right wing theories that they are doing just that, which could encourage fraud investigators to specifically look for such activities.
It just doesn’t really make any sense from any perspective to buy into a theory that doctors or hospital personnel, as a group, are lying or falsifying data in light of the risks in doing so. Personally, I will also admit to a bit of my own blind faith that most doctors and hospital personnel are honest rather than crooks.
@TAG, so when those heart patients are then diagnosed with Covid and they die, what is listed as the cause of death? Some say that the numbers of actual Covid death in the United States is off by more than 70,000. In other words, over 300,000 deaths right now. That could make our South Dakota death numbers off as well.
Over on another blog, I hear that covid deaths are actually about 99% less than posted. They offer no proof as per usual.
The pandemic is no longer a hoax, it is a scamdemic.
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
10,568,714
Deaths:
245,943
8:20 AM
Take those propaganda numbers and reduce them by 99.7% and you have the real numbers.
Remember, Covid-19 was executed by the democrats…
From Field Negro blog. (not for the faint of heart)
EAFB and Sioux Falls airgaurd are failing to report covid hot spots it appears.
bcb, the hospitals administrators are very political it would seem. Case in point, the Hydroxychloroquine tests that were done. The joint press conferences that were done with GNOem assuring us all that there was nothing to worry about regarding bed space and health workers. The sad fact that the hospitals also sell health insurance and all rate increases, must be approved by the South Dakota Division of Insurance. Wrapping my head around that causes some concerns.
No, I for one am not pointing to a conspiracy, I only question what has been posted and wonder about the numbers and what they all mean.
jerry, I have some vague recollection about stories or reports on the press conferences you mentioned, but couldn’t come up with search terms to help me find them to review and refresh my recollection. By any chance can you or another DFP reader possibly direct me to links or sources about one or more of the joint press conference reports?
Here is a joint press conference from April, 13th @ Sanford about Hydroxy test in South Dakota.
https://siouxlandnews.com/news/coronavirus/gov-noem-launches-first-in-the-nation-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatment
I wasn’t about to sit through any of Noem’s bologna. Please burn video when done with this.
Thanks mfi. I tried to listen to the press conference video linked to the story, but had a difficult hearing and understanding the recording. While the written story didn’t report comments by any representatives from Sanford, it appeared that Sanford was represented by at least one physician in the recorded video of the conference (and perhaps two others – I couldn’t tell for sure since it was too difficult for me to understand the audio). This problem with understanding the audio also prevented me from identifying any false or misleading statements by the Sanford individuals, although there certainly could have been such statements that I simply couldn’t hear or make out.
Noem needs James Earl Jones/Sam Elliot’s voice so I can hear what she says, not that I really want to listen to her. :)
Here is another one that basically says that they have this and it’s really controlled. https://kbhbradio.com/Governor-Noem-meets-with-Monument-Health-officials
October 7, 2020 Rapid City Journal “Morgan Matzen
“While caregivers at Monument Health have seen increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients hospitalized with the virus in recent days, doctors say the coronavirus patients are manageable compared to the pandemic’s indirect effects.
Fifty COVID-19 patients were at the hospital Tuesday, and an additional two patients were hospitalized Wednesday for a record 52 in the hospital at one time.”
With the GNOem standing next to the doctor (no masks on either) telling all that they have nothing to worry about. They also show, by their actions, that wearing masks is just not needed. To me, this is a political statement by Monument Health, with the virus denier GNOem, looking on approvingly.
“We are not in a good place right now”. True that. Where is the trumpian leader GNOem? What about the trumpian ding-a-ling legislators, where are they? Here is reality in the Midwest, us’ins. These politico’s must be stuffing the pockets with hoax money, because they sure ain’t legislating.
“Covid’s long, dark winter has already arrived in the Upper Midwest, as cases and deaths surge, snatching lives, overwhelming hospitals, exhausting health-care providers and raising fears that the region’s medical system will be completely overwhelmed in the coming days.
As coronavirus cases grow across the United States — up 70 percent on average in the past two weeks, with an average of 130,000 cases per day nationally — the situation is particularly acute now in the Upper Midwest and Plains states, with North and South Dakota leading the nation in new cases and deaths per capita over the past week, according to Washington Post data.” Washington Post 11.12.20
Thanks Jerry for the link from March 18, 2020, and the reference to the October 2020 Journal stories. This is a link I found to the October story you quoted from:
https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/state-and-regional/monument-health-says-it-can-handle-increase-in-covid-19-hospitalizations/article_aebc8a3d-e420-5ba7-bcaf-3d72d3569a25.html
I don’t immediately perceive any particular mendaciousness or political support for Noem’s incompetent and ineffective stand on masks, social distancing, closings, or other preventative public policies, by either medical provider in these linked public statements, but I could be misjudging the motives of the speakers.
Some background on the Parler platform here:
https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1327253991936454663