Direct Line From Steve Edwards: 1/28/22

Jan. 28, 2022

COVID-19 update

On Friday, we set an all-time high of 198 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, a milestone that reflects the serious threat posed by the omicron variant.

Sadly, we have lost 81 patients so far in January, bringing our total deaths from throughout the pandemic to more than 900.

Our positivity rate did decline slightly to 42.38%, and we are beginning to experience some easing in our urgent care volumes. Those trends are cause for cautious optimism that the omicron wave may be nearing a plateau, but it is too soon to be certain.

More than 500 staff members have stepped up to join Team 19 and take on duties outside their normal departments. Our ER physicians are working night shifts in the COVID ICUs to support our pulmonologists; our residency faculty physicians are helping inpatients; and our hospitalists are working double to ensure we have coverage.

Partnering with Burrell on well-being efforts

This week, we expanded our efforts to support staff with a new series of mental health activities and resources, centered on the theme of: “You can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself.”

Leaders delivered care baskets of snacks to break rooms throughout the system and we announced a new partnership with Burrell Behavioral Health’s “Be Well Community.”

Burrell experts will lead our employees through three virtual sessions on mindfulness, connection and stress management next week.

We are grateful for the generous support of Burrell, which will be helping us pilot additional resources to augment our Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Advocating for mitigation strategies in schools

As the omicron wave spreads, it poses a significant risk to students in our area schools. At CoxHealth, we have recently found that about 21% of people testing positive in our system are 17 and under.

On Thursday, we and our counterparts at Mercy submitted a letter to the Board of Education urging Springfield Public Schools to temporarily implement masking in schools through Feb. 18, 2022. The request had the full support of both health systems’ top clinical leaders.

A motion that would have reinstated masking failed in a 4-3 vote Friday afternoon.

While we are disappointed with the outcome, we will continue to advocate where we can for a multilayered mitigation approach to protect our children and our communities.

Voice of the patient

From inpatient feedback at Cox South: “Everyone stopped frequently to check on me and help me. The nursing staff was amazing! Thank you!”

Thank you for all you do,
Steve