St. Cloud Hospital Adding ICU Beds as COVID Surge Continues

(KNSI) – CentraCare Health says the number of ICU patients with COVID has more than doubled in less than two weeks. Healthcare officials stated on August 12th, St. Cloud Hospital was treating eight people for COVID, and by Tuesday, August 24th, that number had ballooned to 19 patients. CentraCare COVID-19 Incident Commander Dr. George Morris says the number of sick people has been steadily rising with no end in sight.

“The surge is a challenge because it’ll be an extended one, these peaks, and waves of COVID, they come through and they look for people that are either not vaccinated or have never been sick before. Now, this is just the delta variant of that.”

The increase in cases has forced the healthcare provider to convert other space into a secondary ICU unit.

“We’ve taken some of our spaces that previously were dedicated to the ICU level care for cardiac or heart patients. We’ve taken most of that and converted it into regular ICU and COVID ICU care.”

More than 40 COVID patients are being treated in the CentraCare Health system for COVID.

Dr. Morris says the delta variant and the unvaccinated are driving up the numbers.

“Over 90% of our patients in the hospital are unvaccinated. They tend to be actually younger than previous surges. We’re seeing a great number of our hospitalized patients under the age of 50. Even today (Tuesday), we have 11 patients hospitalized due to COVID that are under the age of 50.”

He says we will see more cases, but it’s not too late to reverse the trend.

“Each of us can we have that ability to tip it back into we’d call it more of the usual state. And that includes getting our vaccinations, encouraging all others to get vaccinated, wear our masks and indoor spaces and think about our travel or interactions or social engagements because that’s where the spread is happening.”

Dr. Morris says the team at CentraCare Health has stepped up time and time again, and they’ve always met that demand. CentraCare has learned different ways throughout all of the COVID waves and met the communities needs. He’s confident that the hospital can handle the incoming cases and won’t be overwhelmed.

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