The City of New Ulm appointed Wayne NEW ULM — As COVID-19 cases are increasing in Brown County and nationwide, the healthcare industry is starting to see the strain.

New Ulm Medical Center (NUMC) and the entire Allina Health system are seeing an uptick in COVID hospitalizations and this is having an impact on the treatment of all patients, local health care providers say.

NUMC Director Toby Freier said over the last three weeks urgent care facilities are busier than three months ago. There is an uptick in New Ulm COVID patients requiring hospitalization, and in some cases needing to be transferred for a high level of care.

The transferring of patients is proving to be NUMC’s pressure point. The hospitals in the larger metro areas are reaching capacity. This can cause delays in transferring a patient to places like Abbot Northwestern or the Mayo Clinic Rochester.

Freier said NUMC is experiencing delays where patients need to wait for 24 to 36 hours rather than four to six hours because of a shortage in resources and staffing.

In Minnesota, there are 650 hospital beds that are needed for patients with COVID. Minnesota is faring better than other sections of the country, but if cases continue to increase the state system might not be able to treat everyone.

Freier said on an average day, NUMC has 10 to 15 patients in need of hospitalization for non-COVID reasons. NUMC is staffed to take care of 10 to 15 patients daily. Now, NUMC is seeing additional two or three COVID patients daily in need of hospitalizations. Going from 10 hospitalizations a day to as many as 20 in a day would be difficult for NUMC to manage. The current workforce shortage experienced across the country has also impacted the healthcare industry. There is a nursing shortage already; hiring additional staff to handle a surge is not possible, he said.

In some cases, NUMC is has taken on patients from other rural facilities pushed to capacity. Freier said recently hospitals in Owatonna and Faribault were at capacity and NUMC was able to take those patients.

“Every hour of the day we are now coordinating where we have hospital capacity,” Freier said. “Today we have patients in our hospital that are not even from the region.”

NUMC has not reached a breaking point from the latest COVID surge, but the staff is nervous. Dr. Bryana Andert said the entire staff is concerned about COVID cases getting worse, but this is out of the control of NUMC. Whether the COVID cases increase or decrease is dependent on what people in the community do.

Andert said it will come down to whether people isolate themselves when sick; whether they test for COVID; whether the public wears masks when in large groups and whether they get vaccinated.

“That’s a piece that feels out of [staff’s] control,” she said.

Freier and Andert emphasized that the COVID vaccine is working to significantly decrease the number of COVID hospitalization.

Allina Health took a survey of all COVID-19 patients 21-60 years old hospitalized on Aug. 31. Of the 62 hospitalized, 56 were unvaccinated compared to six vaccinated. In the ICU, there were 16 unvaccinated and one vaccinated.

“It is pretty telling,” Freier said. The rate of hospitalization for unvaccinated is significantly higher than those who are vaccinated. “It’s not 100%. We know that. We wish it were, but it is a high rate of effectiveness.”

A year ago, the healthcare industry was asking people to stay at home to “flatten the curve” to prevent a surge. In some ways, that problem is returning, but Andert said this time people can do more than stay home. A vaccine is an option.

“We have a vaccine that is very effective,” she said. “We have a vaccine that is very safe. It is unfortunate that there is a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of mistrust.”

Brown County is fortunate in that it ranks relatively high in the amount of vaccine distributed. The 65 and older group is over 90% vaccinated in Brown County. The problem is in the younger age groups that are not as fully vaccinated. The vaccine is currently unavailable to thosee 12 and younger.

Freier said the average age of COVID patients needing hospitalization has dropped by 10 years. He said last November the average age of COVID hospitalizations was above 60. Now it is down to 48-52 as the average age for hospitalization.

Andert believed there is a misunderstanding with the public believing the virus is only dangerous to older people and it is no worse than the cold.

“With the delta variant, that’s just not true,” she said. “It is absolutely affecting younger people more to the point where they are being hospitalized. That’s not the common cold. I’ve never heard of a person being hospitalized for the common cold.”

There is also a misunderstanding that children do not get extremely sick from the virus, but child hospitalization has increased with the delta variant. Andert said children have been hospitalized at NUMC with COVID in the last month. The sickest children are those contracting Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and COVID at the same time.

Another reason vaccination is needed is to prevent further mutation of the virus.

“If we do not work aggressively to get on top of the virus with vaccination in good number at a rapid rate, the virus will have enough time to continually mutate,” Andert said. “Now we have delta variant, but what variant is going to come behind that?”

Freier said part of the reason the region is facing a surge again is because of virus mutation. The delta variant is a mutation of the original COVID virus and it has a greater viral load. Vaccinating against COVID is the best way forward to prevent further mutation.

Freier said NUMC has the vaccine available every day. A person can get the vaccine with any appointment. It does not need to be during a COVID clinic. The goal is to create zero barriers to get the vaccine. The supply of the vaccine is no longer a problem. It is available at pharmacies and Brown County Public Health.

There are still people with questions and concerns about the vaccine and providers are willing to answer questions and address concerns.

“We really believe the vaccine is the right choice at this point,” Andert said. “We believe the vaccine is safe, it was not rushed. It is the right thing to do and it is how we get through this.”

Andert added that the COVID vaccine is probably the most scrutinized and studied vaccine ever. The method of its release was not that different from other vaccines. Anyone willing to get a flu shot should be willing to get a COVID vaccine.