National Guard deploy to Lane County hospitals as the COVID-19 surge fills beds, ICUs

In August, Lane County saw 5,906 COVID-19 cases. That's 27% of cases that hit the county throughout the entire pandemic.

While numbers stopped climbing in recent days, the surge shows no sign of relenting.

Lane County Public Health reported five deaths and 201 confirmed or presumptive cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, raising the death toll to 203 and the countywide case count to 20,974. Wednesday's five deaths tied Dec. 9 and Dec. 15, 2020, for the pandemic high for deaths reported in one day, a Register-Guard review of Lane County Public Health data showed.

Hospitals have been struggling, locally and across the state, with the influx of patients filling beds and intensive care units and who are in need of ventilators. Oregon National Guard service members marched in groups of about 20 this week to help both Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend and McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in nonclinical roles such as traffic control, cleaning and running supplies.

"It absolutely has been challenging on our medical staff, our nursing staff and all of our clinical caregivers to see a surge in COVID again," Dr. Melissa Edwards, surgical chief medical officer for Oregon PeaceHealth, told the Register-Guard after service people arrived there Monday. "We never thought that we would see it come back and come back with this vengeance, but having the National Guard here is a tremendous morale booster for our staff."

Traveling nurses also have joined to help hospitals boost staff numbers. 

"The teamwork has been incredible, but it's a huge burden," said Misty Villalobos, a registered nurse at PeaceHealth RiverBend. "Everybody's really exhausted, and at the same time, we're coming together to work extra shifts, stay over and do what we can to make things work."

Hospital numbers

There were six available ICU beds reported available in Lane County on Wednesday, down one from Tuesday. There were 141 hospitalized, up three from Tuesday, with 83 from Lane County, also up three from Tuesday.

Forty-six are in intensive care, one fewer than Tuesday. Of the 46, 30 were from Lane County, unchanged from Tuesday. There are 18 Lane County residents on a ventilator, also unchanged from Tuesday. Of the 83 hospitalized Lane County COVID-19 patients, 86.6% are unvaccinated, LCPH reported.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Lane County Public Health spokesman Jason Davis said that 32% of Lane County's hospital beds and 74% of ICU beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients. As cases increase, hospitals have worked to expand the intensive care capacity.

"We are actually 26% over our typical ICU bed capacity here in Lane County," Davis said.

The two Lane County deaths reported by the Oregon Health Authority on Tuesday were:

• A 68-year-old man who tested positive Aug. 24 and died Aug. 29 at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

• A 91-year-old woman who tested positive Aug. 20 and died Aug. 27 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. She had underlying conditions.

As of Tuesday, 239,826 people in Lane County had received first or second doses of the COVID vaccination, 62.89% of the total population, with 447,187 first and second doses administered, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

Push to encourage pregnant people to vaccinate

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced early August that pregnant people should get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can, warning of the possibility of "severe outcomes'' for those who don't and pointing out there's no evidence of increased chance of miscarriage for those who get immunized.

Still, some expectant mothers remain suspicious. 

Dr. Brooke Kyle, a local OBGYN, joined the county's Wednesday news conference to discuss "troubling trends" with pregnant people and COVID-19.

Of the 33 pregnant people in Lane County who had COVID-19 in August, 17 needed to be hospitalized, Kyle shared. In the same time frame, 5% of residents with COVID-19 needed to be hospitalized.

"We are swamped right now ... with pregnant women without vaccines that are really really sick," Kyle said.

Lane County Public Health plans to resume mass vaccination clinics in anticipation for the general population soon seeking booster doses and more people generally deciding to vaccinate amidst the surge. The $50 visa card incentive ends Friday, but Davis said more vaccine incentives will be available in the future. 

Contact reporter Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick at Tatiana@registerguard.com or 541-521-7512, and follow her on Twitter @TatianaSophiaPT. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.