DCH Coronavirus Update 1-5-22

Update Jan. 5, 2022

A Request for Help to the Community

Please do not come to the emergency room for COVID testing or even for COVID care unless you feel the situation is an emergency (for example, significant difficulty breathing).

As you have likely seen, the COVID-19 inpatient numbers at our hospitals have been going back up. Because of this, many people with COVID-19 symptoms have come to the emergency room to be tested and potentially receive care. This has caused the emergency rooms at our hospitals to be extremely busy. These conditions have led to long wait times.

We are doing the best we can to prioritize care based on the severity of each patient’s condition and could use the community’s help to self-prioritize prior to coming to the ER. Please use primary care or an urgent care if you don’t have an emergency or just need a COVID-19 test.

• Urgent or primary care conditions include:
  • Allergies, sinus infections, flu or cold
  • Fever, sore throat, minor lacerations or injuries, physicals, TB testing and more can all be treated in an urgent care setting.
  • Additionally, most urgent cares and primary care offices can do COVID testing but you should call in in advance to know for sure.
• Some emergency care conditions include:
  • A deep cut or bleeding that will not stop
  • Chest pain or stroke symptoms such as face drooping
  • Extreme abdominal pain
  • Fainting or head injury
  • Bone break or fracture
  • Serious burns
  • Snake bites

Thank you for helping us to help you!

COVID Update

To protect patient privacy, DCH has established a minimum threshold of five for reporting numbers of inpatients with laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

DCH Health System internal counts as of 2:26 p.m. on 1/5/22:

• 56 inpatients within the DCH system who are positive for COVID-19.
• 11inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are being treated in the ICU.
• 6 inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are on ventilators.
• Five or fewer inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are on BiPAP.
• 12,802 (cumulative) unique positives for COVID-19 tests including results from the ED, triage tent and inpatient. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.
• 56,162 (cumulative) unique negatives for COVID-19 at DCH sites.
• 15,422 (cumulative) positive COVID-19 at DCH sites. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.
• 121,056 (cumulative) negative tests at DCH sites.
• 4,354 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have been discharged.
• 783 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have died at DCH. This is not an indication of the cause of death, only that the individuals were positive for COVID-19 at the time of death.