Juneau’s regional hospital opens its COVID wing as case counts rise

Bartlett Regional Hospital 2018 12 01
Bartlett Regional Hospital, pictured here on Dec. 1, 2018, is located at 3260 Hospital Drive in Juneau. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)

Bartlett Regional Hospital opened a wing just for COVID patients Thursday afternoon. Six of its seven beds were full on Friday morning.

The beds are an addition to the 12 critical care spots also used to treat COVID patients.

Infection preventionist Charlee Gribbon says the COVID wing is one of the measures the hospital can take to manage more patients.

“We have many COVID patients, so it helped with efficiency of staff, so we could move them all together,” Gribbon said.

About a third of the regional hospital’s beds are occupied by patients with illnesses related to COVID infections.

Case counts in Juneau are at an all-time high. Gribbon says that does mean the hospital is preparing in case there are more patients, but she says Juneau’s high vaccination rate means fewer hospitalizations.

“We’re seeing that even though we’ve got a positivity rate, people are doing well because they’re vaccinated, and it’s turned it into a mild illness. And they dodged that hospitalization and severe illness, probability because of vaccination,” said Gribbon.

On Friday afternoon, there were seven patients currently at the hospital with infectious COVID-19 cases. One of them is in critical care. Four more patients have illnesses related to previous COVID infections.

Three of the hospital’s 12 emergency department beds are occupied.

Claire Stremple

Alaska News Reporter

I believe every Alaskan has a right to timely information about their health and health systems, and their natural environment and its management. My goal is to report thoughtful stories that inform, inspire and quench the curiosity of listeners across the state.

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