The number of patients with COVID-19 in the Yale New Haven Health system has decreased in recent weeks, officials said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the health system would like to be getting “10 times” the number of vaccines it has been receiving for its vaccination campaign.
CEO Marna P. Borgstrom reported in a press briefing that there were 369 in-patients with the virus, with 77 of those in intensive care units and 44 on ventilators.
“They are very, very sick, and we have teams of people who come in and reposition them to provide them with relief,” Borgstrom said.
The health system includes not only Yale New Haven Hospital, but Bridgeport Hospital, Lawrence + Memorial in New London, Greenwich Hospital and Westerly Hospital in Rhode Island.
The system had a second wave high of about 461 COVID-19 in-patients in December, down from over 800 last spring, according to Borgstrom.
Dr. Thomas Balcezak, executive vice president and chief clinical officer, said the demographic of patients has remained similar.
“This disease is really merciless to the elderly,” he said. “Most who have died are over the age of 70. The risk goes up with each decade of life.”
Balcezak said the hospital is very busy, not only with COVID patients, but with individuals who had delayed care over the past 10 months because of the virus.
This delay has meant more patients presenting with later stage cancer and more advanced heart failure, for example, he said.
Vaccine campaign
The health system has been administering vaccines in recent weeks, with more than 22,000 employees already having received their first dose. About 3,000 have gotten both recommended doses.
System staff have been working to give vaccines to people in the community aged 75 and older, and have already administered several hundred doses. The health system anticipates vaccinating over 6,000 people in this age population by Sunday.
Vaccinations for the community are being conducted away from hospital campuses and by appointment only.
According to Balcezak, the health system needs about ten times the doses it is actually receiving.
“We need more allocation than we are getting,” Balcezak said. “To get to 80 percent of Connecticut being vaccinated and herd immunity, we need to vaccinate about 280,000 people each week.”
“We can’t do it if we don’t have enough doses of the vaccine,” he said.
When asked if people have experienced adverse reactions, he reported that people have experienced some arm soreness, fatigue, fever and headache. Some have experienced hives, and have been treated immediately, according to Balcezak.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s office reported Tuesday that 6,682 state residents have died from the virus to date, and 1,141 are hospitalized.
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.
