Regional medical officials from Essentia Health and St. Luke’s in Duluth said Thursday they’re preparing for an for expected surge in COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Jon Pryor, president of Essentia Health’s East Market; Dr. Nicholas Van Deelen, chief medical officer at St. Luke’s; Dr. Rajesh Prabhu, infectious disease physician at Essentia Health; and Dr. Andrew Thompson, infectious disease physician at St. Luke’s, discussed their preparations with reporters in a weekly news conference Thursday.
"We are not over this yet, and we have not hit our peak, whenever that will be," Pryor said.
The doctors reiterated the effect of Gov. Tim Walz' stay at home order, extended to May 4, is having on flattening the curve of what's expected to be a wave of cases in the northland.
Pryor said the order is clearly "decreasing the number of hospitalizations and deaths. That's the good news. I think it's really important we remain vigilant. There's a reason why (Walz) extended it into May."
The doctors urged people across the north to fight becoming complacent with the recommendations about social distancing and staying home.
Asked whether there are people ill with the virus in Borderland, Pryor suggested there are, despite just one positive test reported in Koochiching County.
"I would treat everyone you run into as if they've got COVID 19," he encouraged, adding that about 20 percent of COVID-19 positive patients have no symptoms.
"So you can get it from people who don't even know they have it," he said. "No matter how good you feel, no matter how (healthy) the person is you are talking to, keep six-feet or more away and wear a mask and stay home."
The doctors said they now have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment for staff, but are seeking more.
Prabhu said predictive modeling indicates the peak may be over in late May, but more will be known as cases are tracked by the state and locally. "We're continuously preparing for the worst case scenario," he said.
Thomas said there are predictions and reality, and he, too said more preparation is better. The peak, he said, could be in a few weeks or a few months.
Essentia Health plans to buy 33 ventilators, and St. Luke’s 16 ventilators, using some of the $3 million from the state’s Department of Health.
Prabhu said Essentia's surge plan is very detailed and allows it to triple the capacity, including ventilator capacity. He said the potential need for the ventilators for COVID-19 patients is why elective surgeries have been canceled.
Pryor said it's unknown how many people may be in intensive care units needing ventilators.
"We are both (Essentia, St. Lukes) striving to over prepare," he said. "We want more ventilators than have now."
The doctors said there are now adequate supplies of personal protective equipment for staff, but modeling shows that supply will be exhausted quickly as the rate of infection increases. They have been purchasing as many PPE as possible since December.
On Thursday, Prabhu said 52 tests had been conducted at the Duluth testing site in last 24 hours.
"We are constantly evaluating, based on demand, volumes, to expand testing sites," he said.
Thompson said he hopes the northland does not experience the numbers of patients expected, but said models are not optimistic.
Prabhu said it is better to be over prepared than under prepared.
Asked what doctors need the most now, Thompson replied, "time."
And the doctors said they are learning from successes in other parts of the county and world, adding that the tragic part of that is the deaths in places like New York will help save lives in other places, like Minnesota, by helping to show what to expect and how to best prepare for the coming peak.
As spring celebrations approach, the doctors urged people not to let their guard down.
Thompson said all celebratory gatherings should be treated differently this year.
"There will be other celebrations in the future, but let's all try to live until that time when we can all celebrate together," he said.
Essentia Health
Meanwhile, Essentia Health has waived the fee for E-visits related to screening and evaluation of respiratory symptoms and concerns related to COVID-19. The E-visits are available to all, regardless of whether they are an Essentia client.
In addition, as of Monday, patients and visitors at all Essentia Health facilities will be encouraged to bring and wear their own cloth masks — if they have them — to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
This follows recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that encourages all people to wear face coverings in places like clinics and hospitals, where it’s not always practical to maintain six feet of separation between individuals.
For patients and visitors who do not have their own homemade masks, Essentia will supply one.
Essentia hospital staff and some clinic staff involved in direct patient care have been practicing continuous wearing of a Level 1 procedure mask. On Monday, the rest of the staff began wearing masks, as well.
