Community COVID-19 spread affects staff shortages at two South Bend area hospitals

Indiana’s hospitals spent the weekend with more COVID-19 patients than all but a single day since the state started its public reports on hospitalizations nearly eight months ago, according to state health officials on Monday.

The 1,759 coronavirus hospitalizations as of Sunday trailed only one day in mid-April and marked an 80% jump for COVID-19 patients in the past month, the state health department reported in its daily statistics update.

Officials at two area health systems are warning that community spread of the coronavirus is affecting staffing levels in their healthcare facilities.

In releases, officials from both Goshen Health and Memorial Hospital in South Bend say the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 is increasing in the community and the hospitals are seeing spikes in hospitalizations.

Since it began testing for COVID-19 in March, Goshen Health has recorded 19,360 tests with 2,632 coming back positive. That 13.8% positivity rate has resulted in nearly 400 hospitalizations over that time, with 42 confirmed deaths as a result of COVID-19 infections.