'We’re still in a surge': ICU beds fill up in Mayo Clinic's Covid unit

Mayo Clinic’s Covid-specific intensive care has reached max capacity as hospital staff scramble to create new ICU space and slow elective surgeries in the face of Rochester’s current Covid-19 spike.

Dr. Amy Williams, executive dean of the Mayo Clinic practice, said all 32 beds in Rochester’s medical ICU system cordoned off specifically for Covid-19 patients were taken as of noon Monday. The Covid-19 wing is just one of 18 multi-bed intensive care units across Mayo’s Rochester campuses, however, meaning Rochester still has some open ICU beds available.

Still, Dr. Williams said Tuesday’s news was a grim reminder of the sudden intensification of the pandemic locally, and a reminder that cases and hospitalizations are likely to increase over the next two to four weeks. 

“We have 32 Covid-19 patients needing tertiary intensive care,” said Dr. Williams. “That’s not good. It tells us that we’re still in a surge.” 

As of noon Monday — the latest data available from Mayo — 115 patients are hospitalized with Covid-19 at Mayo’s Rochester campus, up from 106 the day before and 92 this time last week. While ICU beds are in short supply, Dr. Williams said general hospital beds were not under major strain.

In preparation for rising case loads and hospitalizations, Dr. Wiliams said the Clinic was working to put up at least 12 new ICU beds for the coming weeks, in addition to adding general care beds for Covid-19 patients in Rochester and system-wide. Many of Mayo’s system hospitals, according to her, face the same problem as Rochester’s: rising hospitalizations and ICU demands, with hospitals reaching 100 percent capacity.

“This is putting a strain on our entire hospital system, throughout the Midwest, but it’s especially playing out in Rochester and northwest Wisconsin,” said Dr. Williams.

Dr. Williams confirmed a further decline in elective surgeries at Mayo from last week, down to 70 percent of normal capacity. In last week’s briefing, Dr. Williams said a “small percentage” of in-patient elective surgeries had been delayed; today, she confirmed that Mayo was operating at 80 percent of normal elective surgery capacity last week. 

Dr. Williams did note some good news, saying “the light at the end of the tunnel” was in sight, thanks to improvements in treatment and positive results from the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Until the vaccines become widely available (likely not until the middle of 2021), Dr. Williams said the current medical advice will remain the status quo.

“We cannot wait for a vaccine,” said Dr. Williams. “This will hopefully, decrease hospitalizations, hopefully reduce the need to give out monoclonal antibodies and remdesivir, but it’s important to remember: we’ll absolutely still need to mask, social distance and practice good hand hygiene for a while.”

Meanwhile, across the Midwest, more than 900 Mayo employees have tested positive for Covid in the past two weeks, with that vast majority of cases — 93 percent to be exact — coming from community spread. When employees do get exposed at work, it’s normally when outside of the clinical setting (i.e. eating in a break room). Williams has previously raised concerns about maintaining adequate staffing as the pandemic rages on.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

Cover photo: file / licensed via Canva