PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s hospitals cannot sustain the “alarming rate” of COVID-19 patients, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo said Wednesday during her weekly coronavirus briefing.
Raimondo said patients hospitalized with coronavirus has tripled in the last several weeks. On Wednesday, the R.I. Department of Health reported 357 hospitalizations, an increase from 323 one day prior.
This is the highest number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients in the state since May 1, when 377 Rhode Islanders were hospitalized.
According to the governor, all hospital beds designated for COVID-19 patients are filled.
“We’ve never seen that,” said Raimondo. She said she spoke with leaders from the state’s largest hospital systems, Care New England Health System and Lifespan Corp., and allegedly said the systems were ready to open the state’s two field hospitals.
The Cranston field hospital, managed by CNE, and the surge hospital at the R.I. Convention Center, managed by Lifespan, have not yet seen any patients since the pandemic began.
CNE announced Wednesday afternoon that its site will open early next week.
“As health care systems across the nation are taxed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, surge site locations nationally are being activated to handle the additional number of patients who need care,” said James E. Fanale, CNE president and CEO. “Currently, Care New England’s Kent Hospital, is close to capacity, therefore in the best interest of our patients, CNE will open its field hospital early next week. This will insure that our patients receive the attention and care they need, in a safe environment.”
“The Kent Field Hospital in Cranston is the best possible system of care for the numbers of patients that go beyond what a traditional hospital system can handle. At the Cranston field hospital location, Care New England medical experts and operations professionals have been testing and running drills to ensure that we can provide the medical care they deserve without compromising quality or safety,” said Paari Gopalakrishnan, chief medical officer at Kent Hospital. “Drills will continue over the weekend, as CNE prepares to receive patients. Initially, lower acuity patients with COVID-19 will be transferred to the Field Hospital from Kent Hospital to continue their hospitalization and recovery. We feel that this will allow us to care for all the patients who are seeking medical attention at Kent Hospital.”
However, Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the director of the R.I. Department of Health, said the field hospitals will “not be the same as the brick and mortar set up.”
As previously reported, health care professionals at these field hospitals are expected to be spread thin. Nurses will be expected to care for at least 25 patients at a time.
“[The field hospitals] is not an end point that we want to be in… We need to really redirect this change,” said Alexander-Scott, who said bringing additional staffing to these field hospitals has been an “all hands on deck approach.”
As previously reported, the state will conduct a “pause” period of two weeks where many businesses will shut down or be limited with severe restrictions, as mandated by the state, to help slow the spread and hospitalizations of COVID-19 in Rhode Island. Raimondo pleaded for Rhode Islanders to take the pause seriously.
“If we don’t take it seriously, our hospitals will be overwhelmed in a matter of weeks… and we will have to turn patients away,” said Raimondo.
She said staff at hospitals have been reassigned to COVID-19 designated beds to care for the rise in virus patients. The readjustments, she said, are causing longer wait times and less attention on each patient as hospital systems are spread thin.
“If we let COVID-19 get further out of control, it doesn’t mean that we lose people just to COVID-19,” said Raimondo, hinting at the delays of diagnosis for other diseases such as cancer.
The governor said Rhode Islanders should not have a “big bash” to get together ahead of the pause. As previously reported, she said Rhode Islanders should celebrate Thanksgiving with the people in their own households and not travel.
The governor said she took a rapid test on Wednesday morning, in which she was negative.
“It’s a couple of weeks but it’s going to be hard, it’s going to be lonely, said Raimondo. “It’s not an exaggeration to say you’re saving lives.”
However, many will still travel despite the governor’s ask. She said there will still be free, rapid testing for COVID-19 at T.F. Green Airport in the baggage area over the weekend and through Monday.
According to Daniel Velez, TSA spokesperson for the New England region, passenger volume in major airports in New England on Nov. 24 was down 75% when compared to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in 2019. However, he said the number of passengers screened at T.F. Green for Nov. 24 was up 137% from Nov. 17.
The governor’s briefing comes as cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island increased by 845 on Tuesday, with 10 more deaths, the R.I. Department of Health said Wednesday.
Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients increased to 357, from 323 one day prior. Of those hospitalized, 35 were in an intensive care unit, an increase of five day to day, and 16 were on a ventilator, level with one day prior.
There have been 52,317 cases of COVID-19 in the state to date, an increase of 893 from figures reported on Tuesday, accounting for the day-to-day increase, as well as data revisions for previous days.
Deaths in the state due to the virus have totaled 1,335.
There were 14,978 tests processed in Rhode Island on Tuesday, with an overall positive rate of 5.6%. When excluding both repeat positive and repeat negative test results, the positive rate was 24.5%.
There have been 1.49 million tests conducted in the state to date on 515,106 individuals.
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com. You may also follow her on Twitter at @AlexaGagosz.
This story has been updated to include information from the governor’s press conference.
