Local public health officials reported COVID-19 testing demand has overwhelmed some providers as the Delta variant drives infections to levels not seen since spring, but cases could potentially crest as increased vaccinations take effect.
Public Health Director Chris Skidmore told the county Board of Health on Monday that Pullman Regional Hospital had limited capacity, but could still accept patients. The hospital had recently admitted a transfer patient from Alaska as other regional facilities become overloaded.
“The region’s health care system remains strained and this is particularly due to the high rates of transmission in our unvaccinated populations in Eastern Washington,” Skidmore said, noting a spike in patients from Idaho also contributed to capacity and staffing issues in Washington.
Skidmore said Spokane had just two ICU beds open between its five hospitals last Thursday. Other regional hospitals faced similar overcrowding and the state is updating its guidance for crisis standards of care — though it has not activated those protocols as Idaho has in recent weeks.
Whitman County reported six new hospitalizations today, making 25 new hospitalizations since Sept. 1. Officials also reported 57 new positive cases, which includes weekend cases, but marks the largest daily or weekend report since March.
Skidmore noted that in a batch of 52 new cases from the weekend, just four cases involved WSU employees*. (Corrected Sept. 22, Skidmore previously said WSU students, but later clarified he meant WSU staff and no students had tested positive over the weekend.) He attributed that low number to the high rate of vaccination among WSU students, recently reported to be at more than 78 percent.
(Watch WSU’s 40-minute presentation on its COVID-19 response for Fall 2021, vaccination rates and latest case counts from Friday’s Regents meeting here.)
State data shows just 44 percent of people 12 and older have initiated vaccination in Whitman County. Skidmore said he estimates that rate would be closer to 60 percent if they could accurately account for the transient student population.
“We have seen a little bit of an uptick recently,” he said of local vaccinations. “Some of these mandates that are being issued, as we’re approaching deadlines, we’re seeing people going out and getting vaccinated.”
Skidmore also noted the recent rapid increase in transmission rates has started to plateau, mirroring some cresting of cases nationwide. But local testing shortages have left many people still struggling to meet requirements for school or work.
Palouse Medical has shutdown its ReadyCare operations early for several days after hitting its patient capacity. Sid’s Pharmacy had testing scheduled out five days in advance and other providers reported delays in scheduling tests.
Meanwhile, Pullman and other school districts are requiring negative lab or PCR tests before sick students are allowed to return to class. Many travel arrangements now require negative tests. And some activities, like WSU football games, will require negative tests for admission if an attendee is not vaccinated.
“Demands for testing resources are pretty high right now,” Skidmore said.
County Health Officer Dr. Brad Bowman told the Board of Health that Pullman Regional Hospital has started work to again stand up a centralized testing facility to catch up with the community demand. But that site is probably still a week or two away from being operational.
“We don’t have the bandwidth in the community right now to test everybody,” he said. “That’s a huge burden.”
Public health officials last week recommended a 14-day shift to remote learning for Garfield-Palouse High School after more than 40 percent of its students had to quarantine as either positive cases or close contacts. Read the letter from the district here.
Bowman said contact tracing and other mitigation has remained effective for preventing outbreaks in schools. Officials have recommended schools follow CDC guidelines for enforcing quarantines after infections or exposures.
“That’s worked really, really well,” Skidmore added. “I’m still surprised we haven’t seen transmission within our schools given the fact that we have a case rate of 600 cases per 100,000 [residents].”
WSU now handles the “lion’s share” of the contact tracing for the county, Skidmore said, noting that he focuses primarily on school or long-term care case investigations.
Whitman County Public Health had two more employees resign last month, leaving at least three staff positions vacant in the small department that handles restaurant inspections, permitting and many other duties on top of its pandemic responsibilities.
“Demand for services is currently very, very high,” Skidmore said. “That’s been stretching me pretty thin.”
Bowman said he expected demand for vaccination clinics and access to surge again in the coming weeks as people seek booster shots or vaccinations get approval for children younger than 12. He encouraged county officials to plan ahead for those needs.
County commissioners shared that they had spoken to health care professionals in recent days who expressed intense anger and sadness at the continued resistance to vaccination and the resulting crush of deaths and hospitalizations.
“I know for a fact that most of these people are just wiped out,” Commissioner Tom Handy said.
All three commissioners spoke in favor of vaccinations, though commissioners Art Swannack and Michael Largent voiced concerns about the impacts of the governor’s mandates on staffing.
“I think the mandate is just causing more problems than it’s solving,” Swannack said.
When Handy asked what officials could do to help, Bowman urged them to reach out to constituents and business leaders about getting vaccinated. He said continued vaccine resistance hurts many individuals, but also burns through health care staff and resources, undermines the local economy and wastes millions in public funds on a now preventable problem.
“Each one of those patients can cost a million bucks,” he said. “People forget. They all want these things open and they want to be able to take grandma to the hospital when she has a heart attack. … If you really want to help your community out … there’s a pretty simple way of doing it.”
Wear a mask in public, Bowman said. Get vaccinated.
“The Health department is not trying to make people’s lives miserable,” he said. “We’re trying to keep people alive.”