Mat-Su ICU full of covid patients

MAT-SU — The Mat-Su Regional Medical Center has no available Intensive Care Unit beds, as of Wednesday night, but is still accepting covid patients from other areas around the state.

There were 573 new cases of COVID-19 announced across Alaska yesterday with 83 of those in the Mat-Su. There are currently 130 people hospitalized across Alaska and just 23 ICU beds are available. In the Mat-Su, all 14 ICU beds are taken and 16 covid patients are being treated, nine of whom are on ventilators.

“The vaccines are protective against infection as well as hospitalization and death, so the more people we have vaccinated, the fewer people we will see with infection, so that’s our best tool that we have to control this pandemic. If we don’t vaccinate people, then eventually everybody is going to get infected with covid, pretty much everybody and we know that hospitalizations and deaths will coincide with a proportion of those cases,” said state Epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin. “There is no better way to control this pandemic than through the vaccine at this point.”

In the Mat-Su, there have been 67 resident deaths due to covid since the start of the pandemic. On Aug. 1, four new deaths of Mat-Su residents were reported. There have been 421 cases over the last seven days with a seven-day rolling test positivity of 11 percent. The high mark for cases in one day during 2021 was 96 cases on March 25. On Aug. 18, there were 94 cases reported among Mat-Su residents.

“We've learned a lot during the past 18 months, and we keep learning. We've implemented a number of strategies to expand our capacity so that we are able to care for additional patients. We are better prepared nowe for the surge we are seeing or any surge we'll see in the future than we were at the onset of the pandemic,"said MSRMC Director of Marketing and Public Relations Alan Craft. “Like other hospitals throughout the state, Mat-Su Regional has seen a surge in covid patients these past few weeks, certainly not to the acute levels that they have in Anchorage and other places. We’re still prepared to care for patients and we’re currently still receiving covid patients that are being transported to us from other areas.”

To date, there have been 427 total deaths of Alaskan residents due to COVID-19 and 81,671 total resident cases. There were 47 new nonresident cases announced on Wednesday with three of those in the Mat-Su. Among topics discussed on the Echo zoom hosted by the Department of Health and Social Services on Wednesday, the lack of data to support horse dewormer “ivermectin” as a treatment for covid was heavily discussed.

“We should not use ivermectin for covid 19 based on the current studies,” said clinical pharmacist Dr. Coleman Cutchins. “All the trails that have been done have shown that it’s not a beneficial treatment.”

Across Alaska, 30 people are on ventilators due to COVID-19, and every region except for the Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula region is listed at a high alert level. Statewide, 13.8 percent of those hospitalized are hospitalized with covid. In the Mat-Su, 18.8 percent of those in the hospital are hospitalized with covid. Statewide, 60 percent of residents have received one dose of vaccination and 54 percent are fully vaccinated. In the Mat-Su, 42.8 percent have received at least one dose while 32,921 people accounting for 38 percent of Valley residents have been fully vaccinated.

"Mat-Su Regional is fully operational. We are not transferring any patients due to capacity issues. We are receiving patients from other facilities. We're here, we're open, and we're seeing patients who need care," said Craft.