COVID-19 update graphic.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Avera and Sanford healthcare systems are stretched to the limit by the COVID-19 surge.
“We are not in a good place right now and we are not safe. We have more cases in our area than ever,” says Sanford’s Dr. Susan Hoover.
Hoover and Avera’s Dr. Jennifer McKay were on KELO Radio’s It’s Your Business Show with Bill Zortman, giving the latest on the pandemic and the medical response.
Dr. McKay says hospital bed capacity is tight at Avera.
“The biggest issue at this point is being on a ventilator and being in ICU and those beds are the most difficult to come by.”
But McKay says that the hospitals have good triage procedures and are using telemedicine to reach people in the small towns and rural areas of the region.
Dr. Hoover worries about public complacency since the pandemic has been going on for so long.
“People are becoming, I think, somewhat adjusted to it, or hearing it in the background, or numb to it, but it is a bigger problem than it’s ever been.”
Health officials continue to urge the public to social distance, to wash hands, and to wear face masks.
