PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — During a press conference Thursday, the Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems said cases from the highly contagious omicron variant will send the state’s hospitalizations higher than they were even during the peak of the delta variant.

“The next couple of weeks are going to be really tough, and it is important for people to understand that,” OAHHS President Becky Hultberg said. “There is a war going on in our hospitals against this virus that isn’t visible to the public.”

“We have 1,059 confirmed and suspected hospitalized COVID-19 patients,” Hultberg said. “Our delta hospitalization peak was just over 1,200. We’re on track to exceed that peak possibly by this weekend, maybe early next week.”

Officials said most of those being admitted into hospitals for COVID-19 are unvaccinated or have not received the booster.

Hultberg said hospitalizations have been growing steadily and it is accelerating. Shortages in treatments effective against the omicron variant — such as monoclonal antibody treatments and antiviral pills — have complicated hospitals’ responses, she said.

“This omicron surge is different than delta,” she said. “Delta hit Southern and Central Oregon harder than other regions of the state, but omicron is impacting all regions of the state and pretty much all hospitals in the state.”

She described the stress on hospitals as approaching a “breaking point,” but said there is good news.

Editor’s Note: A video of the entire OAHHS press conference from Thursday is embedded above.

“The good news is that most patients in the hospital with COVID-19 aren’t as sick as they were during the delta wave,” Hultberg said. “But the sheer number of patients, exacerbated by staffing and discharge challenges, has the potential to overwhelm the health care system.”

Hultberg called for more support for health care centers but thanked the deployment of National Guard members to Oregon hospitals. She said hospitals are facing staffing shortages from both sick calls and people quitting their jobs.

“Schools have gone remote, businesses have shut down, but that is not an option for a hospital,” Hultberg said.

Hospitals are relying on contract staffing instead, she said, calling it an expensive, but essential option that is not sustainable for the long term.

Delays in moving patients to places like long-term care facilities have put a wrench in discharges, which keeps hospital beds filled in the meantime with people who could find more appropriate care elsewhere, Hultberg said.

“Today, hospitals have 582 patients who could be discharged from the hospital but there’s nowhere for them to go,” she said. “They may need a nursing home, a rehab bed, behavioral health support or they may not even have a home to go to.”

In some places, patients are being housed in conference rooms and other spaces until rooms open up.

Hultberg said it is “past time” for the issue to be addressed.

OAHHS is a trade organization that coordinates among local leaders in government, business and the health care community.

As local hospitals are at 90% capacity, researchers at OHSU say relief won’t come for another two weeks.
  
They said this reflects the fact that Oregonians are stepping up safety measures and say if we keep doing that for the next few weeks the hospitals won’t become overwhelmed.

On Thursday, OHA reported 981 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Oregon. It’s the highest number in the state since September 2021. 

“I would say if you ask any system right now, they’re full. There’s not extra beds or certainly not extra staff to handle more. Every COVID patient is kind of taking a spot for somebody who either had an emergency that comes up or a planned procedure that needs to be postponed, or other type of hospital care,” OHSU Director of Advanced analytics Dr. Peter Graven said.

Graven’s predicting the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Oregon will continue to increase through the next week and a half before falling. 

“If we can spread this out over a couple months, then it’s something where we can make sure people get the care they need,” Graven said. 

He’s predicting slightly less hospitalizations at the peak of the surge because Oregonians have taken safety measures seriously.

“Oregonians took a lot of actions to change their behavior that is slowing it down, it’s slower than we would have expected before,” Graven noted.

However, he says the key is to hang on for a few more weeks in order to maintain a rate that keeps hospitals from being overwhelmed. 

Oregon has a real chance to indeed flatten the curve, and not see some of the levels that you see on the east coast and elsewhere,” Graven explained.

While the state’s COVID hospitalizations are at a record high, the number of ICU beds occupied hasn’t become as high – something that points to the fact that the omicron variant is less severe. However, Graven says vaccination still protects against severe illness and death.