Healthcare officials in Acadiana warn the public that they are running out of regional healthcare capacity due to COVID-19 case growth.
Lafayette General Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Amanda Logue says their system hospitals and ICUs are full of COVID patients.
“In the last month we have had to transfer patients out of our health system to Rapides, Baton Rouge, north Louisiana, and even as far as Mississippi because we did not have any space to take care of them,” says Logue.
As of Thursday, the Lafayette General Health system had 143 COVID patients. That number was only 20 six weeks ago.
Our Lady of the Lourdes CMO Dr. Henry Kaufman says their healthcare workers have seen a 300 percent increase in cases in this second wave compared to the first wave.
“They are tired. They were tired from the first wave, and maybe not completely recovered when we’ve seen this second wave. It is a very real problem, burnout of our team members is a real problem, fatigue is an issue,” says Kaufman.
Governor Edwards once again turned on the Bat-Signal for former medical workers to come out of retirement to relieve frontline healthcare workers who are overworked and catching the virus.
Logue and Kaufman told reporters Thursday that both systems have ceased doing elective surgeries.
“This means that if your cardiologist has recommended that you undergo a heart by-pass that is not going to happen right now. It may mean that if you have an early-stage cancer that operation is going to be deferred,” says Kaufman.
But Logue did add that all emergency operations are still happening and if you have an emergency do not hesitate to go to the hospital due to COVID.
Statewide we have just under 1600 hospitalizations for COVID-19, nearly matching our numbers from late April.
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