Colorado Hospital Bed Availability Falls to New Pandemic Low

(Bloomberg) -- The number of acute care hospital beds available for Covid-19 patients and other seriously ill people in Colorado dropped to a new pandemic low amid mounting personnel shortages, the state Department of Public Health and Environment said Friday.

There are just 815 “staffed” acute care beds available statewide with the number of intensive care unit beds alone below 100, Scott Bookman, state incident commander, said during an online briefing.

About 80% of the state’s eligible population has received at least one dose. However, 1,009 of the 1,296 Covid-19 patients in the hospital are unvaccinated and “we’re all disappointed we’re here today,” Bookman said.

Later Friday, the state issued a public health advisory, saying: “Hospitals serving the metro Denver are full or nearing capacity due to both COVID-19, non-COVID-19 emergencies, and other routine visits, with less than 10% of staffed beds available – a trend not seen at any other point in the pandemic.

“Nearly 40% of hospitals report current or anticipated staff shortages within the next week,” the advisory said.

Colorado hospitals this week activated a mutual aid plan allowing patient transfers statewide to ease crowding while the state health department requested medical staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ease the personnel shortages.

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