As COVID-19 Spreads, Indiana ICU Beds Fill: 'We Just Can't Sustain This Pace'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The majority of intensive care unit beds in Indiana were occupied by COVID-19 patients Wednesday. Physicians say the pressure on resources and staff is unsustainable.
A normal work week is a thing of the past for hospital workers in Indiana as days stretch to 14 to 16 hours, sometimes for 15 days in a row. Open ICU beds are scarce as hospitalizations in the state have tripled since October. Now the concern is that the Thanksgiving spike is just delayed a bit.
"We just can't sustain this pace," said Dr. Gabriel Bosslet, associate professor of clinical medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "The problem is all of us working in the hospitals are staring down doing this for the next who knows how long."
CBS 2 looked into available ICU bed data in Northwest Indiana. Around Labor Day 40% were available, but in the three months since, it's more than cut in half. Of the 242 total ICU beds in the region, only 48 are avaialble. And for the first time more than half in those beds are COVID patients.
"We never got to the point where more ICU beds were taken up by COVID patients than non-COVID patients," Bosslet said. "Normally I'd see, what, 15 to 20 patients in a day. I can stretch to 30. And I can do that for a short period of time."
But the end is not near, according to Bosslet. He thinks a Thanksgiving spike may just be delayed a bit.
"We are just absolutely flabbergasted by the amount of sick people and the amount of death we are seeing and going to see," he said.
Meteorologically the darkest day of the year arrives in 19 days. Medically the grim reality is it could stay dark for quite a while.
"We are probably six months from really being in a good place, but these six months look to be the darkest of this entire thing," Bosslet said.
Late Wednesday the state's health director said many hospitals in the state are at capacity and that is forcing patients needing care to go to hospitals farther from their homes for treatment.
After working so hard for so long despair comes quickly, but Barsslet said the engine simply cannot break down. Unlike in the spring, they cannot call upon resource from other parts of the country because it is hitting everyone hard right now.
However, the top doctor in the state said a vaccine should be available by mid month, and there could be enough to vaccinate front line health workers and those in long term care facilities.
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