MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As we move into flu season, Mid-South hospitals are preparing for a surge in patients — not just flu patients but coronavirus patients, as well.
Local health officials said the second wave of COVID-19 has hit Shelby County and the rest of the Mid-South. Doctors at Baptist Memorial Hospital said they are using the latest tools to stay within capacity.
In Shelby County, the health department said the county sees an average of 261 new cases per day.
Additionally, hospitalizations remain at 90-percent county-wide with 21-percent of those patients being COVID-related.
However, as the colder months roll in, doctors are expecting those numbers to take a sharp increase.
“The winter, colder months bring new challenges. People are closer together indoors,” Dr. Ashley Harris, the Chief Medical Officer, said.
Harris said the hospital has seen a slight increase in cases over recent weeks. He said the hospital has about 70 COVID-19 positive patients, but that number is still significantly lower than the summer months, when COVID was at its peak.
“I think we’ve learned a lot about the disease itself since then,” Harris said. “We understand more about how it’s transmitted. We understand the ppe that’s required to protect our staff, patients, and family.”
Due to this new understanding, Dr. Harris said he does not believe capacity will be an issue, thanks to a system that allows them to keep an eye on every bed in all Baptist Hospitals across three states.
Harris said this gives them the ability to quickly move patients to another hospital if needed. There is also the first FDA approved drug used to treat COVID-19, Veklury also known as Remdesivir. The drug is said to cut recovery time by at least five days.
“Everybody needs Remdesivir but certainly we are able to use it in a larger population of patients than we were when we initially had access to it because we understand it better,” Harris said.