Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

22 PATIENT SAFETY & OUTCOMES Heart patient dies after being turned down from 43 ICUs amid COVID-19 surge By Erica Carbajal A 73-year-old patient from Alabama died Sept. 1 after dozens of hospitals in three nearby states did not have intensive care unit bed availability for the patient, The Washington Post reported Sept. 12. The patient, Ray DeMonia, was treated for a stroke in April. In late August, he began experiencing heart problems and was taken to Cullman (Ala.) Regional Medical Center. Jennifer Malone, a spokesperson for the hospital, confirmed to the Post that Mr. DeMonia was a patient in their care, adding that "the level of care he required was not available at Cullman Regional." The hospital contacted 43 other hospitals in three states, all of which did not have a specialized cardiac intensive care unit bed available, his family told the Post. Mr. DeMonia was eventually transferred to Rush Foun- dation Hospital in Meridian, Miss., about 200 miles away, and died Sept. 1. "When patients are transported to other facilities to re- ceive care that they need, that's becoming increasingly more difficult because all hospitals are experiencing an increased lack of bed space," Ms. Malone told the Post. The news comes as Alabama grapples with "a real crisis" with its ICU bed capacity amid COVID-19 surges, Scott Harris, MD, head of the state's health department, said during a Sept. 10 news conference. There were nearly 2,800 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alabama as of Sept.12, including 768 people in ICUs, according to data from the Post. Over the span of one week, there were about 60 more ICU patients than there were open beds statewide, Dr. Harris said. n Death risk 11 times higher for unvaccinated amid delta spread, CDC finds By Erica Carbajal R elative to vaccinated people, those who are unvaccinated and infected with COVID-19 face a 10 times higher risk of hospitalization and are 11 times more likely to die from the disease, the CDC's Sept. 10 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found. "Looking at cases over the past two months when the delta variant was the predominant variant circulating in this country, those who were unvaccinated were about four and a half times more likely to get COVID-19, over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die from the disease," Rochelle Walensky, MD, director of the CDC, said of the study's results during a Sept. 10 news conference. Researchers analyzed rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among adults across 13 U.S. jurisdictions from April 4 to July 17, 2021. e report showed that as the highly transmissible delta variant be- came more prevalent in the U.S., the risk of breakthrough cases also rose, though the vaccines were effective in preventing severe illness. From April 4 to June 19, when delta prevalence was lower, fully vaccinated people accounted for 5 percent of COVID-19 cases, 7 percent of hospitalizations and 8 percent of deaths, overall. When delta prevalence was higher from June 20 to July 17, vaccinat- ed people accounted for 18 percent of cases, 14 percent of hospital- izations and 16 percent of deaths. "Rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths were substantially higher in persons not fully vaccinated compared with those in fully vaccinated persons, similar to findings in other reports," the CDC said. n "Those who were unvaccinated were about four and a half times more likely to get COVID-19, over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die from the disease." -Rochelle Walensky, MD, CDC Director

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