CINCINNATI/DAYTON, Ohio — Four counties in Southwest Ohio are at Red Level 3, a public emergency for very high exposure and spread of the coronavirus. And two other counties—Butler and Hamilton—are pushing into Level 4.
Greg Kesterman, the interim health commissioner for Hamilton County Public Health, said they are monitoring the spread of the virus with a close eye.
“Some of this is absolutely attributable to more testing,” Kesterman said. “As you test more individuals, you’re going to find more cases of COVID-19. Although, the increase as well in hospitalizations and intensive care units admissions is certainly very concerning and something we’re watching closely.”
Which poses this question: With cases on the rise, and hospital admissions on the rise, is there a cause for concern that hospital bed space in ICUs could soon become overrun?
Tiffany Mattingly, MSN, RN and senior director of Clinical Initiatives of The Health Collaborative, said not just yet.
“We are still in a very comfortable place, although we are starting to really pay attention to those beds and to reevaluate what our actual surge capacity is,” Mattingly said.
She said the hospital systems in greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are not currently in jeopardy of being overrun with COVID-19 patients. But if trends continue, they may have to activate the emergency surge hospital system.
“That next step would be to use the Duke Energy Center to help decompress the hospital if necessary,” she said. "We’re not at that point yet, but it is something that we look at. We’re taking everything that we learned this past March and April and applying it to our current environment now to help us make the best decision."
In Montgomery County the hospital systems are collaboratively monitoring the outbreak, but they are also not facing ICU bed capacity issues.
Sarah Hackenbracht, the president and CEO of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, provided this update in a statement.
“Overall, our region is seeing an increase in COVID-19 positive patients that has continued to slowly tick upwards since late June. While this is a metric we continue to monitor with our hospitals on a daily basis, our COVID-19 positive patients remain at a manageable number for the region's hospitals in West Central Ohio. Far fewer of those hospitalized for COVID-19 in our region require treatment in the intensive care unit or a ventilator.”
Hackenbracht said many COVID-19 patients are able to recover from the virus at home with oversight and guidance from their primary care doctor.
Currently, she said the hospitals are operating normally, and the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association and its members will continue to monitor the situation to determine if activating the Dayton Convention Center as a surge hospital is necessary.
The same goes for Mercy Health Hospitals in Greater Cincinnati and Springfield.
In a statement, Mercy Health also confirmed they have no concerns regarding personal protective equipment stockpile or ventilators.
“Mercy Health regularly monitors current supplies. We began planning early and have in place materials to support our needs. This applies to PPE, ventilators and other resources. We have capacity across all of our Cincinnati area hospitals to care for all kinds of patients.”
And while hospital systems across the region are prepared to treat patients of any illness or condition, Kesterman implores that we continue to do what we can to limit the spread of the virus to ensure hospitals are not overrun by COVID-19 admissions.
“I think it’s important that COVID-19 is with us and it’s not going away,” Kesterman said. “So we have to adjust to how we’re living our daily lives. Continue to social distance, continue to make sure that we’re not cross-contaminating one another so that we are able to continue to stop the spread of COVID-19.”
All 12 counties in Red Alert Level 3 are currently under a mask mandate until further notice.