GRMC responding to pandemic as cases rise

GRMC responding to pandemic as cases rise Main Photo

9 Dec 2020


Healthcare, Covid19, news

Dalondo Moultrie The Seguin Gazette

 

Seven of the 18 COVID-19 patients being treated in Guadalupe Regional Medical Center were in its intensive care unit on Tuesday, hospital officials said Wednesday.

“The numbers of COVID-19 patients at GRMC have been trending up since Thanksgiving and our emergency department has seen an increase presenting to be seen for flu- or COVID-like illness,” Public Information Officer Elizabeth McCown said in a statement.

The hospital's seven-day moving average of new virus admissions is three per day while the seven-day average for hospitalizations is 16, McCown said.

The hospital has activated an incident command center to assess and respond to issues related to the pandemic and opened an additional critical care unit for patients not afflicted with the virus.

Guadalupe County emergency management personnel released its weekly update of the county’s coronavirus situation on Tuesday which showed that 5,509 cases had been recorded in the county, with 175 confirmed active cases and 105 probable active cases.

The numbers showed that 4,507 were recovered, 675 were probable recovered and 47 patients had died.

While Texas Department of State Health Services officials had reported the 47 deaths to county officials, the state health agency listed 88 Guadalupe County COVID-19 deaths Wednesday on its website.

Guadalupe County lists 21 confirmed active cases in New Braunfels’s section of the county, 22 in Cibolo, 37 in Seguin, 28 in Schertz, four in Marion, four in Selma and 59 in the unincorporated areas of the county.

“Due to the recent uptick of COVID-19 hospital admissions, GRMC reached out to South Texas Regional Advisory Council for staffing assistance,” the hospital said in its statement “At this time, we have received assistance in the form of respiratory therapists and travel nurses who help us care for these acuity COVID-19 patients.”

Help could be on the way but hospital officials aren’t sure when or how much.

The state of Texas initially plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to hard-hit metropolitan areas and GRMC officials expect the hospital will receive some doses in a second offering across the state.

“At this time, GRMC does not have confirmation on when it will receive vaccines or how many it will receive, but we have been in communication with the Texas agencies that are responsible for distributing vaccines,” officials said in the statement. “Medical personnel that provide direct patient care are the highest priority for initial distribution.”

Dalondo Moultrie is the assistant managing editor of the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail him at dalondo.moultrie@seguingazette.com

 

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