'Moving From Mitigation Phase To Surge Phase': Colorado Hospital Association Prepares For What's Next In Coronavirus Pandemic

DENVER (CBS4) - Hospitals across Colorado are flooded with patients right now, putting a major stress on staff, supplies, and available space. Experts say that will get even worse if everyone doesn't do their part to help "flatten the curve" with the coronavirus pandemic.

Julie Lonborg, Senior Vice President of Communications and Media Relations for the Colorado Hospital Association, stressed the importance of self-isolation and social distancing, via a Skype interview Tuesday.

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She said facilities saw an increase in patients needing hospitalization Monday, which is a trend that will likely continue for some time.

"We're essentially moving from the mitigation phase of this to the surge phase," Lonborg said.

According to Lonborg, priority number one is keeping doctors and nurses healthy, which includes making sure they have the proper personal protective equipment, known in the industry as PPE.

In a press conference on Monday, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock warned of a critical shortage of PPE that would cause all efforts "to come to a screeching halt."

Lonborg said the state is currently doing an inventory of all available hospital beds and PPE, including masks and respirators.

In the meantime, some hospitals have moved toward preserving the equipment they have, which Lonborg called "PPE conservation." It includes, at times, reusing certain kinds of masks or using one for an entire shift.

"In ideal circumstances, they might not do that. They might change masks throughout the day, but we're not able to do that right now," said Lonborg. "They'll use a mask throughout an entire shift. If it's a health care worker who is going to work today and going to work tomorrow, with a certain kind of mask that mask can be reused from one day to the next - it just can't be shared between providers."

To increase supplies, Lonborg said hospitals can now access emergency equipment stockpiles from the state and federal government.

The state is also working on updating an online database of bed counts, PPE inventory, and more. Once live, it will allow hospitals to share much-needed equipment and bed-space to help each other out. Lonborg said it's all possible because of a statewide memorandum of understanding.

"We are starting to see some of our members who are short on some of those supplies asking other hospitals for those and those arrangements are being made as we speak," Lonborg said.

When asked about a number of the same scenarios, including challenges related to a high volume of patients, HealthONE gave voice to another issue, telling CBS4 that hospital emergency rooms are not designated testing sites, and a large number of requests are having an impact on hospital operations.

"The influx of testing requests is clogging up ERs and interfering with the hospitals' ability to provide care to patients who truly require urgent attention," a representative said in a statement.

Moving forward, most hospitals will only test staff who have been exposed and people with severe symptoms needing hospitalization. The idea is to protect health care workers against potential exposure as much as possible.

"Unless symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath are severe, people concerned about COVID-19 should quarantine themselves at home. For most otherwise healthy individuals, additional treatment likely will not be required. If symptoms worsen or become life-threatening, patients should absolutely call their doctor or go to the ER," HealthONE said in a statement.

Lonborg said self-isolation and social distancing can make a huge difference in what health care workers will have to deal with over the coming weeks.

"In a scenario where we flattened the curve, we're much more likely to have everything that we need," she said. "In a situation where we didn't get out in front of it or people aren't socially distancing and we have a huge spike all at once, it's going to be harder to have everything we need and that will challenge the system."