Hospital officials in Shasta County are treating more patients with COVID-19 than at any point in the pandemic.
County numbers released Monday show 56 people were hospitalized with the disease. Ten were in intensive care.
Mark Mitchelson, chief nursing officer at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, says the hospital currently has the beds and supplies needed for the recent surge in cases. He adds the hospital can also adapt to handle more patients if necessary.“So how do we deal with that contingency? Do we reduce elective cases, which we’ve done in the past? Do we open up new units and bring in more staff to accommodate? We’ve done many things just to create space,” Mitchelson said.
Mitchelson says Shasta Regional and neighboring Mercy Medical Center together can manage about 350 total patients at any given time. Right now, the hospitals are running at a combined capacity of about 70 percent.
Mitchelson says his hospital is one of the referring centers in the North State. That means transferring patients out of Shasta County could be problematic.
“All the critical access hospitals in the outlying counties send their sickest patients to us directly. Whether that’s Mayers Memorial, Trinity Hospital, Modoc hospital – so, really, the potential to transfer patients out of our facility isn’t there,” Mitchelson said.
Mitchelson says residents should continue to watch for updates from the county and be mindful that officials don’t yet fully understand the novel coronavirus.