After 15 weeks of full hospital ICUs in Wichita, Sedgwick County reports available beds
Wichita’s two major hospitals now have available beds in their intensive care units after 15 weeks of full ICUs, the Sedgwick County Health Department reports.
The health department’s weekly local hospital status was changed to “good” on Monday as Wesley Medical Center and Ascension Via Christi St. Francis reported available ICU beds for the first time since Oct. 26. For more than three months, the hospitals used contingency operations as all approximately 208 ICU beds were full.
As of Monday, 18 ICU beds were available, up from zero the week before. Of the 190 in use, 30 were occupied by COVID-19 patients, which was down from 45 last week. The total COVID-19 patient count was 93, down from 126 a week ago.
The hospital numbers have trended better since late November, but the improvement escalated in late January and early February
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported Monday that totals since the coronavirus pandemic started were 287,450 cases, 8,923 hospitalizations, 2,421 ICU admissions and 4,406 deaths. The weekend brought an increase of 1,348 new cases, 36 new hospitalizations, eight new ICU admissions and 42 new deaths.
Sedgwick County has had 52,633 cases, 1,329 hospitalizations, 384 ICU admissions and 635 deaths in total, according to the KDHE. The increases over the weekend were 210 new cases, nine new hospitalizations, four new ICU admissions and five new deaths.
In a sign of the improving hospital numbers, the regional Kansas Hospital Association and KDHE reports are being discontinued, at least for now, said Wichita businessman Jon Rolph, who hosts the teleconferences.
“It’s just a welcome relief that the COVID hospitalizations continue to trend downward,” said Dee Dee Dewell, representing Ascension Via Christi, during Tuesday’s hospital call. “It’s a real boost for our hospitals and staff to see that. Our bigger hospitals here in Wichita, it has been great to decommission or take some of those COVID units and dedicated patient rooms and transition them back to regular care.”
Tuesday’s hospital report for the south-central region showed the 31 hospitals in the area had a combined 139 patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, with 44 of those in ICUs. Two weeks ago, the region had 209 total COVID-19 patients with 54 in ICUs.
About 25% of ICU beds are available in the region, which is up from 19% two weeks ago. The improvement brought the number out of the White House COVID-19 Task Force’s red zone.
Hospitalizations numbers have improved statewide, as have indicators for new cases and deaths, KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman said during a Tuesday media briefing hosted by the University of Kansas Health System.
“The numbers are good — they’re good compared to what they’ve been in recent months, let me put it that way,” Norman said.
The KDHE reported total 394,523 vaccine doses administered as of Monday, out of 572,275 distributed.
There have been 291,724 first doses administered, or about 10% of the population, which is an increase of 18,296 since Friday. About 3.5% of the population has gotten a second shot, or 102,799 people, which was a weekend increase of 11,047.
Norman said more doses have been administered, but haven’t been reported yet due to data delays.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 2:12 PM.