Updated Wednesday at 9:14 a.m.
Vermont leaders are asking the federal government for help as three of the state’s largest hospitals are running out of intensive care beds.
The state on Tuesday reported 84 Covid-19 hospitalizations, shattering a previous record of almost 70 cases on Nov. 23, and a record high of 22 coronavirus patients in intensive care units, up from a high of 20 patients at the height of last year’s surge.
Medical staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency have already been dispatched to hospitals in states with much larger Delta surges, including Colorado and Alabama, but Vermont’s staffing challenges may not be high on the federal agency’s list, said Mike Smith, secretary of the Agency of Human Services.
Speaking at Tuesday’s Covid-19 press conference, Smith said FEMA would likely direct most of its staff to harder-hit regions, meaning that Vermont hospitals would likely get modest assistance at the most.
“I think what we’re going to have to do is figure it out ourselves,” he said.
Vermont hospitals have struggled with tight intensive care capacity for weeks. Staffing challenges and pent-up demand from seriously ill patients have only deepened the crisis, health officials said Tuesday.
Data from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation shows that the number of coronavirus patients needing critical care rose almost 25% in the past week. The number of open intensive care beds decreased by roughly a third during that same period.
“The crisis some of us feared is here,” state Rep. George Till, D-Jericho, said in an email Tuesday morning to his Democratic House colleagues. “We’re turning down transports from outlying hospitals in record numbers as are other tertiary care hospitals in the region.”
Till, who is also an obstetrician at the University of Vermont Medical Center, called on the administration to reinstate the state of emergency. Scott lifted the emergency proclamation in June before the highly contagious Delta variant arrived in Vermont.
In southwestern Vermont, Rutland Regional Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Southwestern Vermont Region had no open intensive care beds, Department of Health officials said at the weekly press conference Tuesday. And in central Vermont, at University of Vermont Medical Center, all but five intensive care beds were full, a spokesperson said.
Leaders at the Burlington hospital are working to open five additional intensive care beds and have also said they will likely cancel or delay surgeries if a larger surge demands it.
“We’re very sorry about that,” said Stephen Leffler, UVM Medical Center president and CEO. “But that’s the change that we’re making to make sure that we’re here for the sickest people who need us.”
Smith said his agency is working closely with hospital leaders to monitor and respond to staffing shortages. The administration is already paying to staff dozens of beds that were previously closed for lack of personnel.
[Looking for data on breakthrough cases? See our reporting on the latest available statistics.]
At Rutland Medical Center, the number of coronavirus patients is the highest it’s ever been, spokesperson Gerianne M. Smart said. The small number of open beds has forced leadership to monitor the daily census very closely.
“Today we’re at about 80% capacity, but it can change on a dime we have found,” she said. “Because it wasn’t even two weeks ago we were close to 100% capacity.”
The state’s ICU capacity strategy thus far has hinged on helping hospitals cover the cost of staffing additional beds ahead of the holiday season. Earlier this week, for example, Smith said the Agency of Human Services would pay to staff 10 intensive care beds in the coming weeks, bumping the state’s overall capacity to about 110. The state is also paying to staff dozens of beds at long-term care facilities to alleviate pressure on hospitals.
On Tuesday, state officials said they will continue to monitor hospital capacity and respond accordingly.
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