LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Inside hospitals, doctors and nurses are being pushed to the brink as beds fill up across the country.
Officials at UK HealthCare say there's no panic at the moment for capacity in Lexington, but they're making adjustments to fit everyone.
"We currently have about 73 active patients again, it's continuing to grow," said Dr. Newman, executive VP for Health Affairs at UK.
At UK HealthCare, Dr. Newman says beds are not a concern, at least, right now.
"We have plenty of actual beds, we just have to make sure we can staff and grow with that as we need to," said Dr. Newman.
That's why elective procedures are being delayed, and visitations, even for non- COVID patients, are more restricted.
"So making sure we have the nurses, and now all of our beds are open, which is a key thing for us to be able to staff and manage," said Dr. Newman. "The Children's Hospital, again, is very busy. We have about six or seven (patients). That's a portion of the 73 that I talked about that have COVID."
Statewide, nearly another one thousand children under 18 tested positive on Tuesday. That's about a fourth of the total number of new cases reported.
It's only August 18, and the Fayette County Health Department says they've already seen nearly 2,500 new cases of the virus, more than the past three months combined.
That increase will likely lead to more hospitalizations, something Dr. Newman says they are prepared for.
"We have surge capacity to open another 150-300 beds in a surge capacity if we need to have the ability to be able to get there, so we have plenty of capacity to do that," said Dr. Newman
He says UK HealthCare has a high percentage of fully vaccinated employees, but in about a month, that number will be close to 100%.
By September 15, every employee will be required to receive at least one dose of a vaccine.
