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Avera reps: Health system has capacity for COVID-19 patients

MARSHALL — Positive cases of COVID-19 have been rising in both South Dakota and Minnesota. But in spite of reports spreading on social media of patients being transferred out of Sioux Falls hospitals to other states, Avera Health representatives said they are ready for the surge.

Kevin Post, chief medical officer for Avera Medical Group, said Avera has had plans in place for a possible increase in hospitalizations. While Avera may be using its surge plans in the region, it doesn’t mean hospitals are full, he said.

“At this point, we have bed capacity,” Post said. However, he said releasing the exact number of available beds in the Avera system wasn’t necessarily a useful way to show it. “It’s so fluid, you can’t really pin a number down.”

Bed capacity can change throughout the day, and from region to region in Avera’s service system, Post said.

Questions about hospital capacity in the region around Sioux Falls went from social media to the news media last week. On Thursday, South Dakota Public Broadcasting reported the story of a De Smet, South Dakota, man who said he was airlifted to Avera Marshall for COVID-19 treatment because there were no beds available in Sioux Falls.

In response, representatives from both the Avera and Sanford health systems said their surge plans were adequate.

Avera is integrated with hospitals in five states, so it’s possible a patient can be transferred to a hospital in another state, Post said.

“We always try to keep patients as close to home as possible,” he said, but there are a lot of other things that factor into the decision. Avera’s main transfer center in Sioux Falls acts like “air traffic control,” considering a patient’s condition, as well as what beds, supplies and level of care are available at different facilities in the system, Post said. The hospital that can best care for the patient might not be the one closest to home.

In some ways, it can also be confusing to talk about a hospital not having capacity for a new patient, Post said. It’s possible for a patient to be transferred to one hospital to help keep critical care beds open in another.

“We’re doing very good with bed capacity” in the Avera Marshall region, Post said. This spring, Avera Marshall developed its surge plans, which included expanding bed capacity at the Marshall hospital. Avera Marshall can also work together with hospitals in Tyler and Granite Falls to help meet patient needs.

Post said it’s important for people to turn to trusted sources of information about COVID-19, like the information coming from state departments of health.

Both the South Dakota and Minnesota health departments have public COVID-19 data updates and dashboards on their websites, but they track slightly different information, and only for statewide totals.

On Thursday, the South Dakota Department of Health’s COVID-19 data dashboard said the state had a total of 3,832 active cases, with 214 people currently hospitalized. Out of the statewide total of hospital beds in South Dakota, 9% were occupied by COVID-19 cases, and 41% of beds statewide were available.

COVID-19 patients occupied 17% of South Dakota’s total intensive care beds, and 6% of the state’s total number of ventilators, the dashboard said.

The Minnesota Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard said the state currently has a total of 1,069 ICU beds in use, out of a current capacity of 1,222. However, the MDH said an additional 936 ICU beds could also be mobilized.

A total of 441 ventilators were in use statewide in Minnesota, out of a capacity of 1,419, the MDH said. However, the MDH also said Minnesota had an additional ventilator surge capacity of 1,520, with 144 ventilators in a state warehouse and 230 ventilators on back order.

The MDH only reports cumulative totals of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Since March, Minnesota has had a total of 7,758 people hospitalized with COVID-19, and 2,148 of those cases were in intensive care. Out of the total 100,200 total positive cases in Minnesota, 89,980 no longer needed to be isolated.

At this time, Post said, Avera is “confident we are able to manage the numbers” of patients in their service region. However, he said it’s also important that members of the public do their part by following precautions like hand washing, wearing masks and social distancing. People should also not delay getting regular medical care because it could lead to more severe health problems later.

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