By JOSH FUNK-Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus in Nebraska reached a record high Thursday, but even as hospitals filled up across the state, senior hospital officials insisted they can handle a significant surge in serious infections.
State health officials said 288 Nebraskans are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is well above the spring peak of 232 set on May 27. The state's online virus tracker shows 28% of hospital beds and only 22% of beds in intensive care units were available. Douglas County health officials say only 7% of intensive care beds were free in the Omaha area.
But officials with the state's biggest hospitals said they could expand capacity to handle significantly more cases of COVID-19.
The recent rise in coronavirus cases in the state is worrisome but so far the number of people needing hospitalization has been manageable, said Cory Shaw, chief operating officer for Nebraska Medicine's two hospitals and network of clinics.
"Obviously we're concerned," Shaw said.
"But as of right now," he continued, "we are in a good place in terms of managing that need."
Shaw said everyone must remain vigilant about wearing masks and maintaining social distancing whenever possible along with washing hands regularly and staying home if you are sick. Nebraska eliminated most of its restrictions related to the virus last month in favor of voluntary guidelines.
Cliff Robertson, CEO of CHI Health's 14 hospitals in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, said his system has the ability to roughly double its hospital capacity to 2,000 beds if needed. CHI Health can also double the number of ICU beds by using its surgical recovery beds, Robertson said.
Methodist Health System CEO Josie Abboud said her two hospitals in Omaha also have plans in place to expand capacity as needed to handle more COVID-19 cases and deal with the upcoming influenza season.
It's relatively easy to plan for an increase in coronavirus patients compared to a massive influx related to a natural disaster that comes on suddenly, Robertson said.
"A bigger challenge for us would be a tornado hitting one of our communities and 200 critically injured patients that needed to be cared for and hospitalized all at once," he said. "That is absolutely more of a challenge for us than the situation we are dealing with with COVID."
The rate of new cases remains high in Nebraska with the case total approaching 50,000 after 639 new cases were reported Wednesday. The state has the eighth-highest rate of new cases, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Nebraska declined slightly over the past two weeks, going from 12.71% on Sept. 23 to 12.23% on Wednesday.