CINCINNATI — At least seven hospitals in southwest Ohio have been at capacity during the first two weeks of 2021 as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the Tri-State.

EMS crews and dispatchers working during the pandemic have been forced to divert patients as they try to provide the best service possible under extreme conditions. Diversions are used when hospitals are at capacity, but will still accept the most serious cases.

Hamilton County Communications Center records show the University of Cincinnati Medical Center was at capacity for up to 16 hours a day Jan. 1-5. At least three hospitals in southwest Ohio were at capacity on the same day Jan. 2, 3, 5, 10 and 11.

If one facility says it is at capacity, a notification goes out to ensure other places with staff and space can prepare for paramedics with patients. It allows the facility under duress to take a breath and continue to provide care for existing cases, but health officials say few are able to actually take a breath.

Tiffany Mattingly, vice president of The Health Collaborative's clinical strategies, says their "at capacity" designations are at an all-time high.

"This is the most stretched I've seen the hospitals in my experience in this position," Mattingly said.

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On Jan. 4, Good Samaritan Hospital was "over capacity" for about seven hours — the only hospital in the region listed as over capacity so far in 2022.

This week has been particularly challenging at Mercy Health - Clermont Hospital, which was at capacity for part of each day Jan. 10-14. In some cases, hospitals were at capacity for less than one hour. On other days, hospitals were at capacity for most of the day.

Mattingly said staffing is the biggest problem for hospitals now, as health care workers are "just as susceptible" to COVID as everyone else. The problem has created similar conditions at medical centers around the country.

While hospitals have been at capacity, they do not say no to critical conditions like strokes or heart attacks. Mattingly said they are flexible as possible — and patient load is one reason the Ohio National Guard is helping.

"The important thing is, is that if you need medical care — urgent medical care, the emergency departments are open, they are safe, and they are ready to care for you," Mattingly said.

Below are the dates and times local hospitals were at capacity in the first two weeks of January:

Hospital Diversions in 2022 by WCPO 9 News on Scribd

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CINCINNATI —

Hospitals being pushed to the brink of capacity are looking for ways to decompress as the delta-driven COVID-19 surge shows no signs of backing down.

“It's taking a toll, it is causing a lot of strain on the caregivers and the ability to give that care,” said Ohio Hospital Association spokesman John Palmer.

Palmer said physical hospital beds are not the most pressing issue to reducing capacity.

“We have facilities and equipment to help accomplish that, but at the end of the day, the health care is delivered by the caregivers,” Palmer said.

Hospitals are looking for any way to decompress.

“Elective procedures, those surgeries that can be safely moved or rescheduled, whether that’s a couple of days, a couple of weeks, hospitals are starting to look into those opportunities,” Palmer said.

TriHealth is using the method saying it’s “proactively scheduling fewer elective surgeries each day that require inpatient stays.”

St. Elizabeth is among the hospitals now treating some COVID-19 outpatients with monoclonals.

“Because of our ability to treat outpatients with monoclonal antibodies I think we are seeing a decline in terms of our total inpatient escalation,” said St. Elizabeth Dr. John Horn.

HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio —

Rising COVID cases driven by the delta variant are already putting pressure on hospitals as some hit capacity over the weekend.

“We’re seeing, not only our cases rise, we’re seeing our hospitalizations rise as well as intensive care admissions within the region,” said Hamilton County health commissioner Greg Kesterman.

Kesterman said in three weeks, Hamilton County COVID cases went from averaging about 13 a day to averaging 71 a day.

Regional numbers from the Health Collaborative show hospitalizations have jumped in one month from about 40 to more than 130. Now, 40 is the number of people on ventilators in the Southwest Ohio region.

The numbers are lower than they were at the peak of the pandemic, but hospitals are already under stress.

“Over the weekend, a couple of our hospitals hit capacity,” Kesterman said.

“We have a very different starting point going into this surge. It will take less cases to put a strain on the hospitals,” said vice president of clinical strategies for the Health Collaborative Tiffany Mattingly.

Mattingly said last year hospitals stopped elective procedures and other wellness efforts to make space for the oncoming surge. All of those procedures have returned.

“We are definitely at a different stress point than we were last fall,” Mattingly said.

Kesterman said the hospital system has room for more patients, but at any given time, a hospital could hit capacity. If COVID cases continue to rise, expect hospitals to reexamine those elective procedures again.

“I think the hospitals are going to have to evaluate all of those modes of decompression to make sure we have room for all patients who need care,” Mattingly said.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Officials hopes to double the number of Kentuckians vaccinated from COVID-19, and armed with a third type of vaccine plus more doses from the federal government, Gov. Andy Beshear said Kentucky can do it by April.

Gov. Andy Beshear said Kentucky is set to receive 36,500 doses of the newly authorized Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine, with shots to be administered in the next week. Doses are bound for local health departments and 130 local independent pharmacies, the governor said.

Kentucky also expects to get about 98,000 more vaccines from the federal government next week, Beshear said Tuesday.

"We believe that with the Johnson & Johnson batch that we're getting now and with increases we expect, we hope to double the number of people vaccinated in this month alone," he said.

Since December, Kentucky has administered more than 845,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, with more than 100,000 doses admphase 1Cinistered in the last week. Now, residents in phase 1C, like essential workers, people 60 or older and people 16 or older with high risk conditions, are eligible to receive COVID shots.

To find out if you're eligible for a vaccine, schedule appointments and find transportation to your vaccine site, visit vaccine.ky.gov, or call Kentucky's vaccine hotline, (855) 598-2246 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Capacity jumps to 60% for Ky. businesses Friday

As COVID-19 cases and positivity rate continue to dip in Kentucky, the state will raise capacity limits for certain businesses to 60% effective Friday.

Bars and restaurants, fitness centers, salons and barber shops, houses of worship, retail and several other sectors with be allowed to increase their indoor capacity by 10% if they can do it with six feet of social distancing. Those businesses will still be required to enforce the statewide mask mandate and take other precautions to limit the spread of coronavirus.

As Texas and Mississippi lifted coronavirus restrictions like capacity limits and mask mandates Tuesday, Beshear said Kentucky will gradually "loosen" restrictions as long as local COVID-19 numbers continue to trend down to limit the spread of the virus.

"How many times are some going to make decisions that they know have enormous potential costs of human life?" the governor said.

New COVID-19 cases, positivity trending down

For the last seven weeks, Kentucky has seen new COVID-19 cases decline by 72%, and its positivity rate has fallen from roughly 12% to 4.7%

Kentucky recorded 1,080 new cases, the lowest Tuesday case count in four weeks, as well as 19 new coronavirus deaths, including a 96-year-old woman from Kenton County.

Since March, 406,201 Kentuckians have tested positive for COVID-19 and 4,671 have died of the virus. Kentucky will also conduct an audit on COVID-19 death numbers comparing death certificates to state databases.

Hospitalizations continue to decline. Currently, 684 Kentuckians are hospitalized for COVID-19, with 178 people in intensive care units and 82 on ventilators. Kentucky's coronavirus fatality rate has risen to 1.15%.

Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 1,157 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 37,416 people have recovered from the virus as of Tuesday. Since the pandemic began, 264 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus. Track the spread on Kentucky's COVID-19 incidence rate map.

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CINCINNATI —

Two state health orders increase the number of people allowed inside stadiums, wedding venues and catering facilities.

The order pertaining to banquet halls, event centers and caterers eliminates a 300 person cap on those venues.

Along with removing the cap, the order allows guests to move around while wearing masks and distancing. Previously, guests were required to stay seated at all times. Dancing is allowed now as long as distancing measures are followed. A November order banned it as cases were rising.

Jerin Dunham is breathing a sigh of relief.

"It's encouraging because they're lifting the ban for 300 people as the amount of people getting together and obviously we're in the business of having events," Dunham said.

Dunham is part owner of Funky's Catering Events, hosting all kinds of functions at three different Cincinnati event locations.

"Not having a cap makes a difference in the mindset of people in terms of what they can and can't do at that point of time," Dunham.

Leaders at Ohio Event Safety, uniting event professionals with the goal of keeping events safe told quote:

"This is a giant step forward for celebrations and it will have a massive impact on engaged couples and businesses alike. But, we have to remember progress can be lost just as quickly as it was gained if we don't proceed responsibly." Berlyn Martin, Co-founder of Ohio Event Safety.

The other order addresses sports and other entertainment venues.

It has indoor venues capped at 25 percent seating capacity. Outdoor venues are capped at 30 percent seating capacity.

Indoor venues are now also expected to use filtration systems.