(Associated Press) – Hospital and health officials across Missouri sounded the alarm Wednesday over sharply increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, with some saying they are seeing more confirmed cases than at any time since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Leaders of Kansas City-area hospitals said in a phone conference that they are trying to treat the patients and respond to an intense demand for COVID-19 testing while also facing staffing shortages.
Dr. Mark Steele, executive chief clinical officer at University Health, said the system’s two hospitals in the Kansas City area are treating 98 patients with COVID-19, who are filling 25% of the licensed beds. At the same time, Steele said, just over 100 of the system’s employees are out with COVID-19.
Steele said the numbers are about 45% higher than the system’s previous high mark from last winter and from the prior delta surge.
The hospital is also dealing with more than 1,000 calls a day to its call centers from people seeking tests, with employees able to perform about 450 tests per day, he said. Testing positivity rates reached 35% in the last week, “by far” the system’s highest positivity rate, he said.
