Columbus hospitals won’t release COVID-19 patient numbers. What Georgia data tells us
Columbus physician Dr. Glenn Fussell said he felt like he had to make a public service announcement as west-central Georgia’s largest city was having a “run” of the novel coronavirus.
It wasn’t just the result of more testing like he initially suspected. More infected patients were showing up in city hospitals, he said.
“Today I went to St. Francis Medical Executive Committee meeting,” he wrote in a Facebook post earlier this month. “They reported that there is a new wave of admissions to the hospital and intensive care. They are at a new high in admissions for COVID-19.” St Francis’ name was later removed from the post.
Columbus hospitals have also repeatedly refused to release any of their COVID-19 hospitalization data to the public. Hospitalization data reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health and the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency has its limitations.
Columbus area hospitals haven’t reached their bed capacity. But available data analyzed by the Ledger-Enquirer shows total COVID-19 hospitalizations for Muscogee County residents more than doubled from June 1 to June 28. The increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations comes as newly-reported cases in Georgia rise to their highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic.
“We are not past this yet,” Fussell wrote.
A ‘spike’ in Muscogee County?
On June 1, 98 Muscogee County residents were hospitalized with COVID-19. On June 15, the number had reached 153, and by June 28 it stood at 220 — a 124% increase since June 1.
Columbus reported its highest single-day increase in coronavirus infections on June 23 with 128 new cases. Fussell told a Ledger-Enquirer reporter in a phone call on June 17 that the city is in the middle of a “spike” that started around June 7.
“I first contacted some of my colleagues that work at the hospital and asked if they were seeing new admissions from this and the answer then was ‘no.’ Then about four days later, it kind of hit and both hospitals at least (on June 15) were at an all-time high of corona cases,” he said. “But they were also seeing cases that they were sending home from the ERs because they weren’t sick and they’re getting smarter about how to treat it.”
Due to the increase in both infections and hospitalizations, Fussell said he felt it was important to do a public service announcement to be careful. He said a lack of accurate and meaningful data has been an issue in determining the true impact of the virus.
State and local health officials told the Ledger-Enquirer said the increase in COVID-19 cases is likely the result of several factors.
Nancy Nydam, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Public Health, previously told the Ledger-Enquirer that “there have been some small outbreaks” in Columbus. But, she added, there were not “a big number” of people under investigation for possible infections associated with those outbreaks.
Pam Kirkland, a spokesperson for the West Central Health District based in Columbus, said the department has increased its testing capacity but that it isn’t enough to explain the increases.
The virus is spreading in Columbus, and people refusing to follow distancing and safety guidelines is a likely cause. The cases haven’t yet been linked to specific events or gatherings, Kirkland said.
“I don’t know why or where these positives are coming from,” she said. “It’s just baffling. The only thing I feel like you can contribute it to is people not following the guidelines.”
Hospitals decline to release information
Accurately tracking COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county remains difficult.
The state health department has published the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state by county since April 27. But the number of patients reported is cumulative, not the number currently hospitalized. The department also acknowledges on their website that the data they report is “likely an underestimation of actual hospitalizations.”
“This number includes the confirmed COVID-19 cases that were hospitalized at the time the case was reported to DPH or when the case was interviewed,” the website says. “This number does not capture hospitalizations that occur after a confirmed case was reported.”
That means if you tested positive and then entered the hospital at a later time, your data isn’t showing up on the state’s count.
The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency provides a tally of current hospitalizations statewide, but nothing on local levels. Tallies of emergency room, critical care and general inpatient bed usage are broken down by region, but not by county or city.
Columbus is a part of Region I, a 16 county area which includes Chattahoochee, Clay, Crisp, Dooly, Harris, Macon, Marion, Meriwether, Muscogee, Quitman, Schley, Stewart, Talbot, Taylor, Troup and Webster. According to the state’s emergency management agency, 73 of 142 emergency rooms beds remain open. For critical care beds, 23 of 105 are not currently being used. For general inpatient beds, 258 of 812 are open.
Both major hospital systems in Columbus declined to comment on the number of patients they’re currently treating.
When asked about Fussell’s statement, and if the hospital would release information on the current number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, St. Francis emailed a statement from Chief Executive Officer Melody Trimble.
“As reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health, cases of COVID-19 increased in Muscogee County through the month of May, and with the documented increase in confirmed positive cases, hospitals in our region have seen an expected increase in hospitalizations,” Trimble said. “We have known for several months now that COVID-19 would be part of our lives and our work for the foreseeable future. We are continuously monitoring the prevalence of the virus in our community and have adapted everything we do — in every department — to ensure we can safely treat patients with COVID-19 while we continue serving the vital health needs of our community.”
Trimble said patients with COVID-19 are treated in isolation from other patients; that the hospital screens and masks all who enter the facility; and that they are maintaining a zero-visitor protocol.
Becky Young, director of marketing and communications for St. Francis, said the hospital does not release the number of patients who go home after recovering from the virus. But Young said the hospital is currently able to “meet its patients’ needs.”
“Hospital capacity, particularly within specific units and departments, is incredibly fluid and changes rapidly. At this time, our hospital has adequate capacity to meet patient needs, including in critical care/intensive care,” she said. “We continually monitor the prevalence of the virus in our community in addition to operational capacity measures to ensure we are well-coordinated in meeting the varied — and vital — health needs of our patients. We want to assure our communities that it is safe to come to the hospital should you or your family need care.”
The CEO for Piedmont Healthcare, Kevin Brown, posted on Twitter June 15 that COVID-19 hospitalizations remain low across the system’s 11 Georgia hospitals.
In the post, he said nine of those hospitals had 15 or fewer patients but did not release numbers for any specific locations. A graph included in his post shows coronavirus patients at all Piedmont Healthcare locations have decreased from the peak of 264 on March 31 to the most recent statistic of 105 patients on June 14. There was a slight uptick in patients between June 7 and 10.
Jessica Roberts, senior communications specialist with Piedmont Columbus Regional, declined to speak on the number of cases and deferred the L-E to the DPH. She also said the hospital does not disclose information on recovered patients.
“As data from the Georgia Department of Public Health indicates, local counties have seen an increase in COVID-19 positive patients,” Roberts said. “However, Piedmont Healthcare has continued to benefit from the size of our system and overall capacity to meet the needs of patients who require acute and critical care throughout this crisis. This also means that we are able to share resources and provide support where there is increased demand, including transferring patients to Piedmont hospitals that have available capacity.”
‘I feel like a broken record.’
The upward trend in new cases and hospitalizations are concerning to local health officials, but they worry Muscogee residents aren’t listening to advice or data, said Kirkland, the spokesperson for the West Central Health District.
“Some people, like the ones who are ending up in the hospital now, they are the ones with some conditions that are going to make their struggle with this worse,” she said. “When people walk around like everything is back to normal ... they may be coming into contact with people who have those underlying conditions. I think that’s the thing people forget about.
“Fortunately, we’re not overwhelmed at this point and hopefully we won’t be,” she said. “We keep giving out the same message. ...I feel like a broken record.”
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 6:00 AM.