Hospital beds are filling up. Washoe County is seeing a continued rise in COVID-19 cases — currently ranked as very high on the region’s risk meter — and local hospital Renown requesting for the second time a medical structure outside its emergency department.
Renown locations are seeing “capacity challenges,” the hospital said in a statement to the news media this morning.
As of Nov. 4, 88% of staffed hospital beds in Washoe County are occupied, 73% of licensed beds are occupied and 60% of ICU beds are occupied.
The temporary medical facility was requested of Washoe County and is expected to be in place next week. The hospital’s parking garage is still converted to care for COVID-19 patients not needing intensive care.
The hospital’s media statement said “significant surges in hospitalized patients in many communities” around the country prompted the preparations.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Renown has deployed the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) to address the ongoing high census and increasing community COVID-19 test positivity rates,” an unattributed Renown statement indicated. “Command Staff are in place to ensure the beds, procedure capacity and spaces are in place to accommodate staff, technology, supplies, equipment and services to meet the needs of patients and ensure the safety of our care teams.”
District Health Officer Kevin Dick on Tuesday warned of the increased cases.
“We are still at an extremely high level of COVID-19,” he said.
The COVID-19 risk meter ranking of very high means hospital beds are filling up. Health officials and experts continue to recommend people avoid leaving home except for essential functions, such as doctor visits or going to the grocery store.
More than 200 people have died from the disease since March in Washoe County.
