CoxHealth says COVID numbers down, hospitalizations remain high
August 18, 2021
Sheila Harris
In a Thursday, August 12, media briefing, CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards reported that 169 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized within the Cox system at that time. Of those, 51 patients were under age 50, 28 were under age 40, and three were pediatric cases, an age group which is seeing a much higher infection rate than previously.
On the bright side, says Edwards, the positive case rate is down; however, hospitalizations and deaths continue to be high, although he hopes the those numbers, too, will decline.
A group of 235 traveling nurses, respiratory therapists and physicians arrived in Springfield to help with the hospitalization surge, for which Edwards was grateful.
“Many of them told us they’d never worked so hard as they did during the case surge we experienced as the national epicenter for the Delta variant,” Edwards said.
According to Edwards, with the Delta variant moving outward from southwest Missouri, CoxHealth now receives calls every day from out-of-state hospitals asking if CoxHealth can take their overflow patients. Edwards indicated that although Cox is happy to help them when possible, it means that, with other hospitals at maximum capacity, there is no longer a safety valve for southwest Missouri patients.
“As cooler weather approaches and people begin to congregate indoors, my concern is that we will see COVID numbers rise again,” he said. “For that reason, we’re in a rush to vaccinate.”
“The rate of break-through infections has increased,” Edwards said. “It’s been reported that vaccine effectiveness has waned from 95 percent to 90 percent, but it’s still our best defense against serious illness from the virus at this time.”
Edwards also strongly recommends monoclonal antibody treatments, a three to four-hour infusion which appears to reduce the risk of hospitalization for high-risk COVID patients. For more information about these treatment, Edwards advises residents to contact their primary caregiver.
Of the 169 patients hospitalized in the CoxHealth system on August 12, six of them were in Cox Monett.
Sheila Harris
In a Thursday, August 12, media briefing, CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards reported that 169 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized within the Cox system at that time. Of those, 51 patients were under age 50, 28 were under age 40, and three were pediatric cases, an age group which is seeing a much higher infection rate than previously.
On the bright side, says Edwards, the positive case rate is down; however, hospitalizations and deaths continue to be high, although he hopes the those numbers, too, will decline.
A group of 235 traveling nurses, respiratory therapists and physicians arrived in Springfield to help with the hospitalization surge, for which Edwards was grateful.
“Many of them told us they’d never worked so hard as they did during the case surge we experienced as the national epicenter for the Delta variant,” Edwards said.
According to Edwards, with the Delta variant moving outward from southwest Missouri, CoxHealth now receives calls every day from out-of-state hospitals asking if CoxHealth can take their overflow patients. Edwards indicated that although Cox is happy to help them when possible, it means that, with other hospitals at maximum capacity, there is no longer a safety valve for southwest Missouri patients.
“As cooler weather approaches and people begin to congregate indoors, my concern is that we will see COVID numbers rise again,” he said. “For that reason, we’re in a rush to vaccinate.”
“The rate of break-through infections has increased,” Edwards said. “It’s been reported that vaccine effectiveness has waned from 95 percent to 90 percent, but it’s still our best defense against serious illness from the virus at this time.”
Edwards also strongly recommends monoclonal antibody treatments, a three to four-hour infusion which appears to reduce the risk of hospitalization for high-risk COVID patients. For more information about these treatment, Edwards advises residents to contact their primary caregiver.
Of the 169 patients hospitalized in the CoxHealth system on August 12, six of them were in Cox Monett.