SPOKANE, Wash — Some Spokane area hospitals’ ICUs were on average over or nearly 90 percent full during the week of Christmas to New Year’s Eve, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human services data obtained by the New York Times.
The data is self-reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by individual hospitals. It represents the weekly average of hospital capacity from Dec. 25 to Dec. 31.
According to the New York Times, experts working with the data said the situation may have changed since occupancy levels were reported during that time period and the number of ICU beds can be limited due to staffing.
The New York Times reports that the average ICU capacity in Washington state is 71 percent, while the national average is 77 percent.
During the one-week span, Sacred Heart Medical Center’s ICU was 94 percent full, with 62 COVID-19 patients and three available ICU beds.
Holy Family’s ICU was 88 percent full, with 34 COVID-19 patients and one available ICU bed.
Valley Hospital’s ICU was 86 percent full, with 16 COVID-19 patients and one available ICU bed.
It was very different at Deaconess Hospital. The hospital’s ICU was only 18 percent full, with 22 COVID-19 patients and 56 available ICU beds.
The Spokane Regional Health District announced Thursday it would no longer be reporting how many Spokane County residents are currently hospitalized from COVID-19.
SRHD Spokesperson Kelli Hawkins said they were finding inconsistences in the data and the numbers reported are often lower than they know to be accurate and it provided an inaccurate picture of the situation in the community.
“We have been working to address the situation and have made some progress in determining the cause and potential solutions, but at this time we are still not confident in what we are reporting,” she said.
Hawkins said they will continue to report the total hospitalization numbers.
