COVID numbers continue to increase rapidly in our community. Two weeks ago, CCMH had two COVID positive patients admitted to the hospital. Today, we have 25. The hospital continues to serve patients in our normal service lines, such as emergency department, surgery, GI lab, and other outpatient procedures, in addition to caring for our patients requiring hospitalization through these service lines. Incident Command continues to watch the situation closely, and deploy decompression methods where possible in our areas of highest strain. Patient throughput is an organization-wide team effort—efficient, effective discharging of patients has a direct impact on efficient, effective admission of patients, and allows all areas to function optimally. Many interdisciplinary teams are assisting in this effort, working outside their normal areas and hours. Thank you to everyone in the organization for what you do—when times are stressful, we turn inward to one another to get the job done.
We continue to encourage all team members and their eligible family members to get vaccinated. We are seeing the difference daily between our vaccinated and unvaccinated patients—we have unfortunately already lost a few members of our community in the past month due to severe COVID disease. As COVID becomes more prevalent in the community, it is more important than ever to protect yourself and your family. Current CDC recommendations are that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, social distance and wear masks when indoors in public spaces. Avoid large gatherings, and stay home if you are not feeling well.