ST. GEORGE – Utah Senator Don Ipson can’t think of anyone he knew who was infected with COVID-19 over the summer.
That changed in the months between then and now. Ipson, R-St. George, said he now knows several people who have contracted it, have been hospitalized, and even a few who have died of complications caused by it. Then, just a few weeks ago, he visited the Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George, with some of his legislature colleagues, and witnessed the challenges hospital staff are facing in meeting the needs of COVID-19 patients.
The tour was eye-opening, he said. Thinking about it on Tuesday, he called it “demeaning” and “scary.” For him, it hit close to home, as two of his granddaughters work in health care, as do the staff he saw hard at work.
“That was pretty sobering to me,” Ipson said, recalling the tour. “To see the intensive ward expand to the other areas, the other wings of the hospital and the statistics that they use those beds today – what an incredible job the hospital has done to get us through this.”
Ipson was one of the few southern Utah lawmakers who gathered online for a virtual meeting with Dixie Regional Medical Center leaders, Intermountain Healthcare professionals, and members of the media to discuss that tour and thank the hospital staff for what do them daily.
During the nearly hour-long meeting, those lawmakers – Ipson; Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City; Representative Walt Brooks, R-St. George; Rep. Brad Last, R-Hurricane; Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City; and Rep. Lowry Snow, R-Santa Clara, spoke of their appreciation for frontline workers after the hospital tour and urged people to exercise caution in the run-up to the Christmas break.
“We have to be careful as we go into Christmas Day that we – you know, 30% of the places where this COVID is passed to other people are in our homes,” Ipson said. “We have to protect our health at home.”
COVID-19 situation before Christmas
Their message came as the number of new COVID-19 cases slowly continues to decline statewide, but hospital admissions and test positivity rates remain too high for comfort.
Statewide COVID-19 cases weren’t as strong as what public health experts feared would happen after Thanksgiving, based on trends from earlier holidays this year. Experts from the Utah Department of Health and Intermountain Healthcare have credited the lack of peak to people following recommendations and limiting vacation meetings.
It’s the same conclusion that Dixie Regional Medical Director Dr. Patrick Carroll pulled out of the data in southern Utah.
“We are delighted to see that that wave we expected did not happen as we thought,” he said. “That tells me that a significant percentage of our population in southern Utah has followed the recommendation of our government officials, our health workers, and our local mayors.”
That doesn’t mean Utah is out of the woods yet, which is why there are similar recommendations regarding pre-Christmas holiday gatherings.
The state’s seven-day average of COVID-19 cases is dropping again as we enter Christmas. It dropped from 3,125 cases per day on December 6 to 2,478 cases per day as of Tuesday. That said, the state’s positivity rate remains high after going through a rollercoaster of trends. It peaked at 27.2% on December 1 and fell to 22.2% on December 13, then crept back to 23.7% on December 16.
The other problem is that statewide hospital admissions, which show signs of slowing down, remain high. As of Tuesday, 544 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, including 202 IC cases. The use of ICUs in referral centers and all hospitals statewide is still above the 85% threshold decided by government officials in health care, and it was in December.
Those figures are not indicative for every hospital. Carroll said there were 67 COVID-19 patients at Dixie Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, which is another record for the hospital since the pandemic began. The hospital also has 37 ICU patients, forcing the hospital to use hospital beds since the ICU has a maximum of 32 beds.
“We continue to find ways to provide this care to every patient in the hospital, but we must also recognize that this is emergency care,” he said. “We do not provide normal care for ICU patients in the normal place where we would like to provide care.”
The hospital had a seven-day running average of more than 2.5 deaths per day from COVID-19 last week, Carroll added.
The Southwest Utah Public Health Department, where the hospital is located, has reported 130 deaths since the start of the pandemic – the third highest of the 13 local health departments. Only Salt Lake County (515) and Utah County (198) have more. Those deaths have been difficult for doctors and nurses, Carroll explained.
“ When they bring in a patient who, despite their best efforts, despite all they may have tried, see a patient who has succumbed to this disease for years of life, that’s more difficult than the high count; that’s more difficult than a lot of patients coming in, “he said.” We want to avoid the devastating consequences; we want to prevent death.… Together we as a society do much better by preventing disease than when patients end up in hospital. “
After the hospital addressed the skepticism of COVID-19 deniers online, it gave representatives a tour of its facility. Hospital officials also posted a virtual tour of the facility on social media on December 8, which was intended to show everyone the work they were doing and the situation in the hospital.
Many of the representatives who visited the hospital agreed with Ipson, also calling it “sobering.” They thanked the health workers for their continued efforts.
“If you actually see it and you talk to the medical providers – the ones who work there – and you find out how long we’ve had to work in our community to provide for those who are sick and suffer from this, then that’s the case. , “said Snow.” And also, if you include the number of people we lost in our state and in southern Utah. Some of these represent people we know. It is real; the pandemic has cost human lives and we must remain vigilant. “
While the representatives were not necessarily all in agreement on things like ordering mask mandates, they urged people to follow guidelines such as wearing masks.
Snow, Vickers and Shipp said they noticed a “change in climate and attitude” in the region as the largest hospital started to become overcrowded. Many residents began wearing masks, distanced themselves physically, and canceled plans for holiday gatherings – however difficult that might be.
“I know through social media that there are those naysayers who say,“ This is an invasion of our freedom. This isn’t that crucial, “I’m glad most people don’t listen to those things,” said Shipp.
Vickers also objected to some of the conspiracy theories floating around about masks and hospital admissions he came across, which he noted are easily debunked.
“It was frustrating in many ways to see the different theories with social media and other stuff,” he said.
Carroll said that if people continue to follow public health guidelines and limit the number of pre-holiday gatherings, he is confident it will help reduce COVID-19 transmission, which will result in fewer hospitalizations and deaths related to the coronavirus. That would be a big boost for a hospital staff who are “exhausted”, even though additional staff have been hired to help with the proliferation of new cases.
Vaccines are underway
Tuesday’s online meeting, of course, came a week after hospitals began vaccinating front-line workers. Dr. Kristin Dascomb, medical director of infection prevention for worker health at Intermountain Healthcare, said nearly 5,000 Intermountain employees have already received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
State health service data shows that 326 people were given the vaccine in the Southwest Utah Public Health Department district.
While urging people to follow guidelines to reduce the number of COVID-19 hospital admissions in the region, Ipson also said he hoped people will be vaccinated once the vaccines are available to the public.
He said he is old enough to remember the concerns about polio and measles that had been allayed with the development of vaccines. That’s why he plans to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it’s available to him.
“It’s just another step in trying to make the world a healthier place (and) to curb the pandemic,” he said. “I find it hard to understand why people don’t want to get vaccinated. The science is there. They’ve tested it; it works. … I would encourage everyone to really give a lot of it. Thought.”
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