Gov. John Carney’s weekly press conference started off differently Jan. 11, with a video montage of healthcare providers talking about how overwhelmed hospital systems across the state are with COVID patients.
“We have reached a point where our hospital capacity has been stretched to the limit,” Carney said.
Dr. Ken L. Silverstein, chief physician executive for ChristianaCare, said the hospital has issued a crisis standards in care notice along with downstate health systems Bayhealth and TidalHealth Nanticoke. Silverstein said ChristianaCare has never before had to issue a crisis notice over an inability to keep up with healthcare services.
“We’re caring for patients in hallways. We are stretched thin,” Silverstein said.
Silverstein asked people with minor health needs to avoid the emergency department. “We do not have the capacity to do routine testing or treat mild disease,” he said.
When asked why hospitals have enacted the crisis standards of care with this year’s milder Omicron variant compared to last year’s COVID variants, Silverstein said there is nothing mild about the situation, and the people in the hospitals are critically ill or seriously sick.
The Omicron variant is now the dominant strain in Delaware. Seventy percent of recent cases are Omicron with the rest Delta, officials said. According to state statistics posted Jan. 10, the number of hospitalizations hit 734, with 72 critical and 51 on ventilators. It is higher than the 2021 peak of 474, even though there are more people today fully vaccinated – about 75 percent of Delawareans over 18.
About 40 percent of hospital capacity is made up of COVID patients, Carney said, which could be prevented. With about 1,800 total hospital capacity across the state, around 800 of the total cases are COVID related, according to state statistics.
It’s the main reason, Carney said, that he reinstituted…
Homes by the sea in Rehoboth Beach. 
Rehoboth Beach Museum. 
