Jefferson City hospital reporting lower capacity as COVID-19 cases surge in county

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City hospital is saying capacity is starting to shrink as the positivity rate and cases continue to rise in the county.

As of Tuesday, the Cole County Health Department is reporting 232 active cases of COVID-19 outside of long-term care facilities. In total, the county has seen 2,401 cases of the virus, with 16 deaths.

The Vice President of Medical Affairs of SSM Health St. Mary's in Jefferson City Dr. Stephen Stewart said things are on the rise in the area. According to the data the system uses, he said the positivity rate is at about 15.6 percent.

"That means in the next 2 or 3 weeks things in the community as far as severely ill people and ones in the hospital, and those that pass away from this illness will go up," Stewart said.

He said over the past two weeks, the Mid-Missouri region has also seen a surge in hospital demand, shrinking the capacity in the area.

"We had a few days where we weren't over capacity, but we were very close to capacity," Stewart said. "Definitely in the ICU beds and the critical care beds."

He also said COVID-19 cases within SSM St. Mary's have gone up significantly, saying for the past week they have had about 20 patients, where it used to be in the single digits. He said patients with the virus have much longer stays than other patients and require a lot more work by hospital staff.

"I think COVID has been driving a lot of the capacity demands lately and I think it will for some time to come," Stewart said.

He urged the community to take the health guidelines seriously, like wearing a mask, social distancing, and handwashing to continue to slow the spread. While there is no order in the city or county right now, he thinks local leaders and the community are starting to take it more seriously.

He said at some point the city may need to look at a mandate, but he agrees with the strong recommendations from the city right now.

"You have to find a balance. I think masking is important, whether or not you mandate it, I think you have to weigh the benefits," Stewart said. "Obviously a mandate, if you look across the country, communities who've mandated have lower rates."

Mayor Carrie Tergin is urging the community to wear masks and social distance through a new campaign. She said a mandate could make people think there is.

"People may take the shift off of that this is for public health and say this is about personal rights, but no, this is about making sure people know what the expectations are very clearly beyond just saying you need to do this," Tergin said.

The Cole County Health Department sent out another urge for the community to follow guidelines on Tuesday, saying it is seeing more cases related to home gatherings.

"We know that some people have restrictions and not, and mandates and not, we know that. We need to be able to have these precautions in place every day, be comfortable within and make it a habit" Tergin said. "We need to work together to do that and be unified."

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