Worries About Capacity Persist as Omicron Has Yet to Surge in North Central Washington

The Omicron surge has yet to really hit North Central Washington, but local health officials expect a sharp rise in cases soon and many are worried about the area's capacity.

Recent testing data by Confluence shows a positivity rate of just 7%, which Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Lake called the lowest he's seen in some time.

However, lots of logistical problems continue to plague Confluence and other providers.

Lake said about 95% of the health system's available beds are already in use and major staffing issues remain.

"We continue to have high vacancy rates." explained Lake, "We have over 110 nurse openings, which is about 18.5% of our total in-patient nurses. We have a lot of CNA and respiratory therapy openings as well."

Starting in January, OSHA guidelines will go into effect that require large employers who have unvaccinated but exempt employees to create a testing regimen. Many large employers in our region are now looking to someone to partner with for testing.

"We have to focus primarily on sick people and testing (them) so I'm not sure we can partner with those large employers just for screening testing for them to go to work." continued Lake, "So we're trying to figure out how to navigate the likely significant increase in testing demand that may happen over the next few weeks."

Lake added that Confluence currently has 15 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 14 of which are not fully vaccinated. Only one person is in intensive care (ICU) for COVID, with seven others on some sort of oxygen or ventilation.