Strain on hospitals intensifies in Virginia; VCU Health deploys surge capacity plans

By MEL LEONOR Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 19, 2020

A swamped ICU and escalating COVID-19 crisis forced a turning point at VCU Health last week: The Richmond area’s anchor hospital formally deployed the next level of its surge capacity plan, signaling the end of normal operations to prepare for significant strain on its resources.

In Virginia’s hard-hit Southwest, a front-line physician at Ballad Health said weeks and weeks of escalating numbers are threatening a “second pandemic”: the physical and mental exhaustion of its workforce. ... At hospitals across the state, a workforce firm is helping backfill 926 health care jobs, three-fourths of which are for the care of the state’s sickest patients.

A relentless surge in COVID-19 cases is threatening to overwhelm Virginia’s hospitals and health care resources — the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus — before new vaccines can change the course of the pandemic.

“There’s a cost to be paid for the continued rise of this virus, and we’re starting to see that cost in our health care systems,” said Virginia Health Secretary Dan Carey in an interview. ... “This isn’t theoretical. This is real. The message to Virginians is that if this rise continues, it’s going to be harder for the health system to take care of them if they or a family member or a friend were to get sick.”

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mleonor@timesdispatch.com

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