CREVE COEUR, Mo. (KMOX) - Hospitals in the greater St. Louis area are being stretched thin due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. It's effecting healthcare providers ability to help non-COVID patients too.
In one instance, an 83-year-old woman had to wait for days in an emergency room until a room in the St. Louis County hospital was open for her, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Barbara Finch of Clayton reportedly went to the emergency room at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital with a severe headache and loss of balance on Dec. 2.
Thankfully, her health improved, but Finch says it was a frightening three days. She could only use a public restroom, had no shower and was eating ice cream for dinner, according to the Post-Dispatch. Finally, a room in the cardia unit opened.
“We have a way to end this pandemic, and we have not done it because people are so selfish that they refuse to get a vaccine that would protect me and others,” Finch told the Post-Dispatch.
Her scary situation happened more than a month ago, when the COVID surge was just beginning. Since then, St. Louis County is seeing daily averages of new cases and hospitalizations rise at never-before-seen rates.
On Thursday, St. Louis-area hospitals had 1,158 COVID patients — which was a new record for the fourth day in a row. They say more than two-thirds of the patients are unvaccinated.
Those same hospitals also reported 21 COVID-related deaths, the highest one-day total in nearly a year.
Data posted Thursday on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard shows that Missouri is now averaging about 7,300 confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases per day. Statewide, 2,771 people are hospitalized, nearing the all-time record of 2,862 set in December 2020.
It comes days after BJC HealthCare is postponing all elective procedures due to the rising numbers of COVID patients. System officials said Tuesday the more than 500 COVID patients now in their hospitals "is beyond anything we’ve seen thus far in the pandemic" and it's "nurses, staff and facilities are stretched to their limits."
The rampant virus also has prompted St. Louis County Circuit Court to postpone jury trials for the weeks of Jan. 10 and Jan. 17.
Related
© 2021 KMOX (Audacy). All rights reserved
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Follow KMOX
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram