Health officials planning ahead in case hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients

COVID-19 hot spots such as New York City are treating so many patients with the virus that they are having to set up makeshift hospitals in other buildings. In March, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City was converted into a 2,000-bed hospital ward specifically to treat patients with COVID-19.

Health officials in southeast Iowa meet on a daily basis to discuss the evolving situation with the virus. So far, there are no plans in place to create makeshift hospitals in the area given that the current case load can be handled with existing medical facilities.

Washington County Hospital and Clinic's marketing and foundation director Amy Vetter said the hospital is monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak in southeast Iowa and throughout the state, working with local and state agencies and surrounding hospitals to determine surge protocols.

'At this time, we are not preparing to create a makeshift hospital,” Vetter said. 'In coordination with surrounding hospital partners, bed capacity is available and hospitals are prepared to treat patients.”

As of Thursday, April 9, 65 people had tested positive for coronavirus in Washington County, 15 in Henry County and three in Jefferson County.

Jefferson County Health Center CEO Bryan Hunger said last week that his hospital had merely had 'preliminary conversations” about makeshift hospitals.

'At the hospital, we've been talking about how we can accommodate more than the beds we have,” Hunger said.

Regulations had capped JCHC at 25 beds, but U.S. President Donald Trump issued an emergency order lifting that limit.

'In a scenario where we need more beds, we can get them. We've made plans to add capacity,” Hunger said.

Hunger said the main discussion has revolved around how the hospital would isolate COVID-19 patients from other patients in the hospital. As luck would have it, JCHC is well designed to handle an outbreak of infectious disease because of how it was built back in 2009. The health center has not supported an obstetrics department for several years, but in 2009 there was hope that the health center might once again deliver babies, and so a wing of the hospital was constructed for a future OB department. Extra doors were installed to isolate that section of the hospital from the rest.

Now, 11 years later and faced with a global pandemic, that additional isolation could come in handy if JCHC were to treat COVID-19 patients.

Hunger said the hospital is looking at ways to create negative airflow in the building so that air is sucked outside. He said this could be useful in removing the droplets from sneezes and coughs that the virus lives on, and thereby reduce its transmission.

Jefferson County Emergency Management Coordinator Brett Ferrel said he speaks with health center representatives daily about their plan to tackle COVID-19. He remarked that JCHC is sitting good now, but if its patient load ever grew so large it couldn't handle it, an existing building off-site would be used as a makeshift hospital.

'We do have a plan in place,” Ferrel said. 'We are ready in case we are overwhelmed at the hospital.”