COVID hospitalizations drop at Lakeland Regional Health, but cases continue to stress system

LAKELAND — Lakeland Regional Health has continued to see a decline in the number of hospitalized COVID patients, but the area's high number of new cases is placing long-term strain on the system.

There were 368 COVID patients hospitalized at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center as of Tuesday morning, Michael Spake, LRH's senior vice president of external affairs, told Lakeland commissioners at Tuesday's meeting. That's down nearly 17% from the 442 patients reported about a week ago, but still makes up about 40% of the hospital's total patient census.

Of the 368 COVID-positive patients who are hospitalized, Spake said roughly 85% were unvaccinated. There are 56 COVID patients in the center's intensive care unit, of whom 92% were unvaccinated. Fifty-eight patients with COVID require assistance from ventilators, along with 25 who are on ventilators for other reasons, leading to a total of 83 ventilators in use.

"This is very, very atypical for our medical center to be caring for such an extremely high number of the highest acuity patients we can see, and we’ve been sustaining this for six to eight months now," Spake said. 

The virus impact on Lakeland Regional Health isn't just at its medical center, but affecting different facets of its medical operations. The hospital's Emergency Department saw about 6,700 patients last week, according to Spake, who said 303 were admitted after testing positive for COVID. Another 1,053 people were diagnosed with COVID, Spake said, and sent home from the ER to manage their symptoms.

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Lakeland Regional's drive-thru testing site in the parking garage administered more than 1,900 tests last week, Spake said. The weekly positivity rate was about 34%, or about 655 positive COVID cases. The provider's urgent care centers tested an additional 927 patients with a slightly lower positivity rate of 22%, or about 208 new infections.

Lakeland Regional Health's monoclonal antibody infusion center "continues to be at capacity," according to Spake, despite a nearby state-run clinic opening at Lakes Church. There were 506 treatments provided at the infusion center plus 148 treatments to patients at the main medical center. It averages out to around 93 people a day. 

"I want to say the last three months across the health system has been stressful," Spake said. "Our beds have been full every day. Our team members have been impacted in ways that we never imagined. Our daily lives have been busier and more stressful than ever." 

Spake said there is hope, in discussions with other centers through the Florida Health Association, that COVID hospitalizations are gradually declining statewide. This may indicate that the recent surge, spurred by the delta variant, has peaked. 

"We hope that we may be seeing a small peak," he said. "I think the next two weeks our team would agree will be the telltale of that." 

Lakeland Regional Health is not prepared to restart all elective surgeries quite yet, Spake said. The health care provider announced it was postponing all elective surgeries as of Aug. 18. Spake said patients being hospitalized for COVID are currently staying inpatient longer than previous waves. There are about 20 COVID patients at the medical center who have been there more than 30 days, another 40 hospitalized for more than 20 days.

"When we better understand what new patients' prognosis is in terms of length of stay, we’ll have a better idea," Spake said. 

The arrival of fall signals the return of other seasonal viruses. Spake said there have been between eight to 10 pediatric patients hospitalized for RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus infection, in recent weeks.

Health care providers are starting to gear up for the seasonal flu to arrive. Watson Clinic announced Tuesday it will be opening its flu clinics as of Sept. 13 for their patients on a walk-in basis at five locations. For more information, current Watson Clinic patients can call 863-680-7FLU (7358), go online to www.WatsonClinic.com/Flu or talk with their doctor.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.