Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital and Monroe Hospital are seeing what hospital leaders call “an alarming trend” in increased number of COVID-19 patients.
Brian Shockney, president of the IU Health South Central Indiana region, said Friday at a weekly news conference with city, county and IU leaders that daily total of patients with COVID-19 in Monroe County’s two hospitals continues to increase, particularly over the past 30 days.
Though Shockney did not give an exact number for Friday’s Monroe County hospital census, 43 COVID-19 patients were in IU Health’s Bloomington, Bedford and Paoli hospitals on Monday.
Daily numbers of hospital admissions have continued to increase, and incident command protocols have been increased as well this week, Shockney said. The increase in hospitalizations at both Bloomington hospitals correlates with the increases in case numbers Monroe County has seen in recent weeks. The county saw record highs of new positive test results reported in a day, hitting 35 cases in one day Wednesday, and 31 on Thursday. As of Friday afternoon, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Monroe County since March was 562, according to the Indiana State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard.
Also, an increased number of patients are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms and receiving positive test results during their hospital stay. That number, Shockney said, is something that could quickly double. Tests taken at the hospital typically have a 48-hour period to turn out results.
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