ELKINS, W.Va. – The number of cases of the coronavirus in Randolph County can be counted on one hand and with the peak of the disease in West Virginia expected to arrive later in the week, doctors at Davis Medical Center emphasized that they’re not taking anything for granted from those projections.
“Those peaks also look at the number of available beds in the state, the number of ventilators in the state, the number of critical care beds in the state, and then it looks at the number of potential patients that are going to be affected,” said DMC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Catherine Chua.
The hospital has had a plan in place to handle diseases like this for some time, which means making the changes needed to deal with a pandemic like this wasn’t as difficult as it could be. Chua said they have a place to put patients who may be suffering from them virus to keep everyone as safe as possible.
“We’re trying to keep most of our people under investigation in a certain area of the hospital. And that’s way it’s easier for the nursing staff because they don’t have to put on and take off their personal protective equipment all the time,” Chua said.
Just because the peak is due this week doesn’t mean the state is out of the woods. Chua said there’s been a lot that residents have done well, but there’s a long time to go before the state is in the clear.
“West Virginia has done a great job of flattening the curve, so what that means is that we still expect to see about the same number, over time, of COVID cases, it’s just that that number is going to be more of a trickle into our hospital systems than a blast from a fire hose,” said Chua.
