With a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Greene County, is the hospital starting to feel overwhelmed?

Greene County Medical Center Director of Community Relations Nancy Houska says they have not reached bed capacity yet, but they have been rather busy.

“We have had fluctuations in volumes with clusters of admissions, and then clusters of discharges. The in-patients we have been admitting are largely COVID suspected or positive patients. We are concerned that this trend will continue in the coming weeks, especially with Thanksgiving.”

Houska tells Raccoon Valley Radio the medical center has been planning for a surge of COVID-19 cases since April and continues to follow its safety protocols for employees and the public when entering the facility. She talks about staff contracting the virus.

“To date, none of the staff have acquired COVID-19 at work. It is vital that our staff stay healthy to care for the patients, and for those staff who have gotten COVID, the cases have been acquired in the community.”

Houska urges everyone to continue to follow the safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Greene County mask mandate.