Coronavirus Update and Health System Preparations - 6/8

Testing and Confirmed Cases
The number of COVID-19 positive inpatients declined through the weekend and then started to climb again today. It is important to note that the persons under investigation (those inpatients awaiting a COVID-19 test result) have started to decline as testing supplies and results have come in.

To protect patient privacy, DCH has established a minimum threshold of five for reporting numbers of inpatients with laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

DCH internal counts as of 3:20 p.m. on 6/8/20:

• 62 inpatients are being treated for COVID-19.

• 25 inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are being treated in the ICU.

• Nine who are positive for COVID-19 are on ventilators.

• 898 (cumulative) have tested positive for COVID-19 including individuals from the ED, triage tent and inpatient. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.

• 8,461 (cumulative) have tested negative at DCH sites.

• 188 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have been discharged.

• 42 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have died at DCH.

Also included is a chart showing the percent positive among those tested at DCH locations. This chart reflects totals by the end of each day (except today).

Continual Evolution
When COVID-19 testing, first started it was only being conducted through a few commercial and government labs around the country, and the time to results was sometimes seven to 10 days. In just a matter of months, equipment, tests and processes have all been rapidly modified to help manage the need. Now commercial labs are turning around tests in 24 hours to three days (depending on travel time), and in-house hospital labs can produce results in a few hours.

DCH has been conducting COVID-19 tests in-house for many weeks now. This has been integral to slowly resuming needed inpatient and outpatient procedures, as well as providing information for timely discharges. However, the process has been hampered by supply delays.

Late last week, DCH received a shipment of supplies that got its COVID-19 in-house testing back up and running (it had been down for several days due to a lack of supplies). That has helped provide results on a large quantity of tests over the last few days. Additionally, another DCH vendor, Hologic, can now produce COVID-19 results on its Panther equipment which uses a different type of testing supplies. DCH will start using that equipment next week, which should further bolster the ability to provide the most up-to-date information possible.

Nearly every day we receive information on new advances and are continually evaluating which ones will best fit our capacity and needs in the fight against this virus.