Regional hospital sees highest number of COVID-19 patients to date

DAYTON — Today, a doctor at Miami Valley Hospital told News Center 7 that right now, they're dealing with the highest number of COVID-19 patients they've had hospitalized since the pandemic started.

"This is the busiest we have been going back to March when it comes to COVID," Dr. Steve Burdette, the Medical Director of Infection Prevention at Miami Valley Hospital said. "Both in the number of admissions, the number of positive patients as well as the acuity and severity of the illness."

Four weeks ago, on June 23, Miami Valley Hospital told us their hospitalization rates for COVID-19 were on an upward trend, on par with what they were seeing in late April and early May. But at that point, the hospital said they weren't seeing hospitalized patients as severely sick with the virus as they did during that late April, early May timeframe.

But now, Dr. Burdette says that's all changed. "A month ago we had consolidated all our patients to one area," Burdette said. "We were not needing as many staff, we were not needing as many infectious disease doctors and now we've really had to expand and recruit more help and get everybody else involved. We're using more ICU beds we're using more ventilators right now. We're really in desperate need for more plasma."

The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association (GDAHA) confirmed to News Center 7 Tuesday that hospitalizations are "holding steady" regionally from that upward trend four weeks ago in the Dayton-area. GDAHA President and CEO Sarah Hackenbracht said that's a trend that her association is seeing in the eight-county hospital region designated by the state of Ohio for the pandemic that includes Preble, Montgomery, Greene, Darke, Miami, Clark, Shelby and Champaign Counties.

Hackenbracht also confirmed Tuesday COVID-19 cases requiring ICU care or a ventilator are "decreasing." However, she warned, "all of that can change quickly so it is still important for people to understand that this is not a virus to be cavalier about contracting."

Back at Miami Valley Hospital, Dr. Burdette says he hopes one short-term hospitalization trend there lasts. “The last 48 hours we have plateaued and actually gone down a little bit,” Burdette said. “So I’m hoping that trend continues and it’s not just a one or two day blip, but over the last three weeks or so it’s been a very steady increase of a couple additional patients, a couple of percent increase on a daily basis.”

Cox Media Group