Coronavirus: How Full Are King County Hospitals?

Redmond WA

09 December, 2020

2:25 PM

Description

KING COUNTY, WA — Hospitals across Puget Sound are almost at capacity due to the ongoing surge in coronavirus cases in Washington and around the country. State health officials warn that once all hospital beds are occupied, patients may be turned away. Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee held a news conference to extend current pandemic restrictions, and lingered on a sobering statistic: that 80 percent of Washington's ICU beds are currently full, and that future projections showed a worst-case scenario where the state's hospitals run out of space. The hospitalization projections are scary. We're already at 80% ICU capacity in Washington. Unless this turns around, our system will be overrun. That impacts everyone needing hospital care, not just COVID patients. pic.twitter.com/u7yoLJd1af— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) December 8, 2020 Now, a new tool is allowing Washingtonians an up close look at how the influx of patients is affecting their local hospitals. Based on research and data compiled by the University of Minnesota, National Public Radio created a "look-up" tool, showing how full each hospital is, and how many beds are taken up by COVID-19 patients. Users can also lookup county and statewide hospitalization rates, in addition to info on their local hospital: In King County, hospitals are 67 percent fullIn Pierce County, hospitals are 79 percent fullIn Snohomish County, hospitals are 77 percent fullIn Thurston County, hospitals are 71 percent fullIt is worth noting that the data used for the tool differs slightly from the state's self-reported data. For example, the latest update to Washington's COVID-19 risk assessment dashboard shows King County hospitals at 80.8 percent full. Below are local hospital capacity rates and their number of daily COVID-19 patients based on a seven-day average: Evergreenhealth Medical Center (Kirkland, WA) — 92 percent full, treating an average of 20 COVID-19 patients Harborview Medical Center (Seattle, WA) — 72 percent full, treating an average of 19 COVID-19 patients Multicare Auburn Medical Center (Auburn, WA) — 56 percent full, treating an average of 21 COVID-19 patients Overlake Hospital Medical Center (Bellevue, WA) — 58 percent full, treating an average of 16 COVID-19 patients St Anne Hospital (Burien, WA) — 59 percent full, treating an average of 13 COVID-19 patients St Elizabeth Hospital (Enumclaw, WA) — 53 percent full, treating an average of 4 COVID-19 patients St Francis Community Hospital (Federal Way, WA) — 77 percent full, treating an average of 18 COVID-19 patients Swedish Issaquah (Issaquah, WA) — 89 percent full, treating an average of 9 COVID-19 patients Swedish Medical Center (Seattle, WA) — 85 percent full, treating an average of 49 COVID-19 patients Swedish Medical Center / Cherry Hill (Seattle, WA) — 89 percent full, treating an average of 7 COVID-19 patients University Of Washington Medical Ctr (Seattle, WA) — 59 percent full, treating an average of 18 COVID-19 patients Valley Medical Center (Renton, WA) — 68 percent full, treating an average of 51 COVID-19 patients Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle, WA) — 74 percent full, treating an average of 9 COVID-19 patients Look up more information on the NPR website. Patch Staffer William Bornhoft contributed to this report.