Washington health officials fear more dying due to patient volume

SPOKANE — While no figures exist yet, health officials believe the COVID surge in Washington is likely leading to excess deaths when patients who normally would be able to get care are unable to be transferred to hospitals because there are no beds available.

This is due to the more than 1,300 people being hospitalized for COVID-19 in Washington.

“Hospitals throughout our state are full and at the highest level of occupancy our state has ever seen,” Dr. Steve Mitchell, medical director at the Washington Medical Coordination Center, which is coordinating patient transfers statewide.

Mitchell said one patient recently needed to get from a rural hospital in Eastern Washington to a hospital where they could receive more intensive care. After waiting eight hours for an open bed, the patient died.

The state’s larger hospitals that typically take patients from smaller rural facilities are experiencing incredibly high patient volumes, made worse by the rapid increase of COVID patients. Mitchell said there are long periods when the coordinating center is unable to move patients to larger facilities .

“For time-critical illnesses, that means sometimes the difference between life and death,” he said. “I do believe there is increased mortality from what’s going on in our hospitals.”

Mitchell said the WMCC is moving patients across the state and even out of state if it means they can get into the critical care or intensive care unit their condition requires.

Health officials are asking residents to start masking up immediately, as well as get vaccinated against COVID-19. Current vaccination and infection levels are still not high enough for the state to reach immunity, said Dr. Scott Lindquist, acting chief science officer at the Department of Health.

The majority of those hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, however.

“We all must do our part so things don’t get worse,” said State Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah.