As Omicron surge hits Carson City, hospitalizations, test shortages increase
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Fri, 01/14/2022 - 9:50am
Omicron cases are surging throughout the country, and unfortunately, Carson City is not immune to its reach. In the last five days, six additional individuals with COVID-19 have been hospitalized, bringing the total number to 32.
However, Carson Tahoe Hospital says that while it has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases being hospitalized, the cases are not as severe as those seen in prior variants.
“The good news is the Omicron variant is not requiring the same level of critical care compared to earlier variants,” said Erin Meyering, spokesperson for Carson Tahoe Health. “While the increase in hospitalized patients isn’t enough to overwhelm the hospital, the increase in patients and national workforce shortage combined is proving significant to CTH and most acute providers across the country.”
Hospitals, urgent cares, out-patient offices and other health care services across the country are all feeling the strain of worker shortages, especially due to workers being sent home due to contracting Omicron.
“As an integrated system of care with many outpatient and inpatient services , we have some flexibility in staffing to provide for the greatest need,” said Meyering. “Over the past few weeks we have seen more employees out sick, as a result of the variant, and that makes our job more complicated.”
Still, things at the hospital are not dire thanks to the Surge Plans which were created and honed throughout 2020 and 2021, which are still currently in effect.
“We’re learning to cope with COVID in its smaller waves and the bigger ones where it feels more like a crisis event,” said Meyering. “We are also learning to adapt to a shrinking workforce. We are not currently at capacity, but are working at a higher occupancy.”
Within the Carson Tahoe Hospital system, there are currently 240 licenses beds, other beds that can be used in crisis, and almost all can be used to care for COVID patients as needed, according to Meyering.
One thing that Meyering says is often overlooked within the COVID-19 discussion has to do with the mental health impact it has had on people as a whole.
“The demand for our mental health services, among both adults and children, is increasing rapidly,” said Meyering.
Testing
Another struggle Carson City residents are currently facing involves trying to find over the counter COVID-19 tests, which are experiencing a nationwide shortage due to the Omicron surge, as well as in-person testing appointments, which are filling up fast.
On Thursday, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced that nearly 600,000 take-home rapid COVID-19 tests are currently on their way to Nevada, and will be available within “high need communities.”
Carson City Health and Human Services is also currently coordinating acquiring more tests, said spokeswoman Jessica Rapp.
While CCHHS used to provide testing, they stopped prior to the Omicron surge due to a decreased need for testing as case numbers fell, and additional testing resources became available within the community.
However, despite an increase in need for testing in the community, CCHHS is also suffering from staff shortages which are hindering their ability to provide in-house testing, but they are working with the state to obtain at-home test kits for distribution.
“We will be working with the Quad-County leadership on how to distribute them so they get into the hands of the public,” said Rapp. “We are also looking at other ways to expand testing in our communities.”
Rapp said the plan is still in progress and more details will be released on distribution once they are available.
In the meantime, Rapp says individuals interested in acuiqring at home tests can order them through online retailers, including Everlywell, QuestDirect, Pixel and Vault Health.
For a full list of testing resources, including where individuals can be tested in person, you can view CCHHS’s information flyer here.
According to the New York Times COVID-19 tracker, there is a current average of 93 new cases per day, an 853 percent increase from the average two weeks ago.
Despite only being in the second week, January has been the month with the highest average cases since Dec. 2020 in Carson City.
All surrounding counties are in an “Extremely High Risk” level of transmission, according to the tracker. Similarly to Carson City, Lyon County has jumped in cases per day with an average of 62 new cases per day; Douglas with an average of 72 new cases per day; while Storey County remains low with an average of 1.4 new cases per day.
Check back later today for the full COVID-19 weekly update for the Quad-Counties.
