The Colorado Hospital Association is warning that without social distancing, hospitals across the state may not be able to meet the demand for ICU beds.
“It is possible that the current ICU bed capacity will not be sufficient to care for the number of patients that we anticipate Colorado hospitals will need to treat. That is why it is imperative that Coloradans follow all social distancing recommendations, in addition to the many efforts by Colorado hospitals and health systems to expand their current capacity and capabilities. The more we can extend the spread of this virus over multiple weeks or months, the better our hospital system can manage the needs our communities will face," CHA spokesperson Julie Lonborg said.
Lonborg points to a 2018 count of ICU beds across the state that shows Colorado has 973 ICU beds and 10,293 total hospital beds, but warns, “it should be understood that the 2018 numbers reported in this spreadsheet are the baseline, not the current level of ICU and CCU beds in the state, which will now be higher.”
As it confronts the initial surge of Covid-19 patients, Lonborg said that CHA is currently assessing the number of ventilators across the state.
“So when we know that number, we will have to ask: do we have a model to help us understand what the need may be so we have enough? And if we don’t have enough, how far off are we?” Lonborg said.