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COVID-19 Hospitalizations Double Previous Highs

Visual Science

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has more than doubled since this time last week. Genesis Health System reports that each day has set a new record for hospitalizations. Last Tuesday, 51 was the highest number of people in the ICU since the pandemic began. Today, it's 105. 

President and CEO Doug Cropper says most ICU patients recover, but it's taken as long as 13 weeks before they're able to leave the hospital, which doesn't leave many open beds for the new wave of patients who need treatment. 

Credit Genesis Health System
Doug Cropper

"We're adding net 15-20 patients per day. Within the hospital, we're having to convert a whole other unit at GMC Davenport to a COVID unit because of everything we're seeing."

Cropper says that if community spread continues like this, the number of COVID patients in the ICU could double by the end of the week or early next week. 

"This is all before the holidays. We can only take care of so many people. We'll have to be talking with the governor and with others... if we're simply overrun with patients because people aren't taking precautions seriously, then there are other things that are going to have to be done outside of us and outside of Unity Point. We won't be able to handle the capacity." 

Nearly 400 of the 500 COVID-19 cases reported in the Quad Cities are from Scott County, where the average positivity rate has jumped to almost 22.5%. In Rock Island County, the positivity rate is 18%.

Marianna Bacallao is WVIK Quad Cities NPR's 2020-2021 Fellowship Host/Reporter. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mercer University's Center for Collaborative Journalism and served as Editor-in-Chief for the student newspaper, The Cluster.
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