Bailey: 4 of pandemic’s Top 10 days occurred in last week
Ascension St. John Jane Phillips Medical Center is currently at about 90 percent capacity, City Manager Mike Bailey reported to the City Council on Monday. Bailey said hospital officials report that “staffing is tight.”
“I received an update from (hospital CEO) Mike Moore earlier today, and he indicated the hospital is running at 90 percent of capacity currently,” Bailey said. “He said staffing is tight, which, as we know, is an issue all over the country.”
Bailey said while the number of new Covid-19 cases in Washington County is down from last week, the numbers are still much higher than previously.
“We’re starting to see a steepening of the curve over the last few weeks. In fact, over the last six days we’ve had four of our Top Ten days,” Bailey said. “We’ve gone from seven new infections per day during the summer to 32 cases per day for the first week in December.”
He said the past few days have brought better news, “but unfortunately it was preceded by days that had much higher numbers.”
Bailey said the number of deaths due to Covid-19 are increasing as well.
“We had a number of deaths early in the pandemic as the virus hit some of our long-term care facilities and then saw those numbers decrease significantly. However, since the beginning of October we are starting to see those numbers increase as well,” he said.
Bailey urged everyone to comply with CDC guidelines by wearing a mask while in public, washing hands often and practicing social distancing in an effort to combat the disease in Washington County.
Graphs courtesy Oklahoma State Department of Health
