The University of Kansas Health System beds are full and are causing transfer patients to be turned away amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
“I think we’re at a tipping point,” the system’s chief medical officer, Steve Stites, said Wednesday, The Kansas City Star reported. “If we don’t take it seriously, we could easily end up back where we were in November.”
“We are turning down transfers, which is creating, I think, a real concern, maybe even a crisis here in our region because patients are having trouble landing into beds anywhere near their hometown,” Stites added.
One to six acute patients have been turned away each day due to the lack of beds.
Stites said the hospital has been “running full steam” trying to keep up with people returning to the hospital who were more hesitant to come during the height of the pandemic and COVID-19 patients, according to the outlet.
Kansas only has 43 percent of its population fully vaccinated and its testing positivity rate is at 21 percent, according to data from John Hopkins.
The neighboring state, Missouri, is beginning to offer cash incentives for residents to get the vaccine as cases continue to go up with only 40 percent of the population fully vaccinated.
The state has seen more than 2,100 cases each day the past seven days with hospitalizations increasing by 50 percent.
The whole country is seeing a rise in cases as states with low vaccinations numbers are being hit particularly hard by the delta variant.
Post source: Thehill