Virus burden ‘enormous’ for hospital

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Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center is filling up with people with respiratory problems, Jefferson County Public Hospital District Commissioner Kees Kolff said at the last Jefferson County Board of Health meeting. 

“Unfortunately, patient volumes are rising again,” Kolff told his fellow board members at the Dec. 15 meeting.

“We currently have on average 21 to 23 inpatients. And remember, this is a 25-bed maximum hospital,” he said.

Kolff noted that the cases weren’t all due to the spread of the coronavirus.

“Earlier this week, we had nine patients who tested positive for COVID-19. We had six who tested positive for influenza, and we had three with respiratory syncytial virus. So the virus burden on this community and on the hospital district employees is enormous,” Kolff said.

The spread is also being felt on the staff level at Jefferson Healthcare.

“Employee illness is also on the rise, just as it is in the community at large. We now continue to have an average of one new employee per day contracting COVID in the community,” Kolff said.

“We, on any average day, have 25 employees who are out because of illness, making staffing challenging, to say the least.”