As the spread of the coronavirus accelerates across the U.S., and with South Carolina now reporting its first cases, Greenville hospitals have started preparing for the possibility of a local COVID-19 outbreak.
In multiple news releases, state health officials have called the coronavirus a “rapidly evolving public health event” that they’re taking seriously.
“As the state’s lead for public health, DHEC is taking proactive steps to be prepared to protect the health of South Carolina’s communities, including informing health care providers throughout the state of recommendations for testing, the availability for testing and the appropriate precautions for the general public,” a March 6 release said.
At Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital in the Upstate, administrators said they’ve been planning for a possible epidemic since late December, when reports first emerged of a fast-spreading virus in the city of Wuhan in central China.
C. Wendell James III, chief clinical officer for Prisma Health-Upstate, formerly Greenville Health System, said one of the first things officials looked at was the hospital’s stores of protective equipment, including N95 masks, which protect against respiratory droplets, and PAPRs, full-coverage hoods that resemble disposable space helmets.
Officials have also stockpiled ventilators, a necessity for severe cases of coronavirus, which can cause high fever and pneumonia-like symptoms.
“We’re in as good a shape as any facility that I’m aware of,” James said.
In an emailed statement, a Bon Secours St. Francis Health System spokesperson said: “our clinical leaders have implemented protocols that are consistent with CDC guidelines, and we’re closely monitoring the situation across our ministry.”
State and local preparations
DHEC says it’s been working with health providers for years to prepare and test the state’s ability to respond to public-health events like COVID-19.
At least nine people have tested positive for the coronavirus at DHEC’s public health laboratory. Results are required to be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a process that typically takes 24 to 48 hours once the samples are received.
The state’s first two cases — an elderly woman from Kershaw County and an MUSC staffer from Charleston County — were announced late Friday, March 6.
The elderly female from Camden was transferred to Prisma Health Richland Hospital in Columbia, where she was being treated in a special isolation room, a Prisma Health spokeswoman said.
The woman from Charleston County was symptom-free and was continuing to self-monitor.
Additional cases were announced the week of March 9.
Linda Bell, state epidemiologist for DHEC, urged citizens to remain calm and follow recommendations to prevent the spread of illness.
“Public health events like this one are not new to South Carolina,” Bell said. “As a state, we have responded to Zika, the H1N1 influenza pandemic, SARS and others — including seasonal flu outbreaks — and our medical consultants conduct more than 700 disease investigations each year for a variety of illnesses. We have trained, prepared and put systems in place to ensure that we are prepared and ready to respond to this and other events.”
Hospitals have plans in place to deal with a surge of patients and, in a worst-case scenario, can tap into state and federal resources to set up MASH-style portable hospitals similar to those used by the military, James said.
“We have the ability and plans if necessary to convert entire hospitals to be able to handle these patients,” he said.
Greenville Memorial Hospital also maintains a supplemental staffing pool and can draw on the nursing school next door and multiple residency training programs should there be any staffing shortages.
And it can work with the Upstate Health Care Coalition — made up of health care providers, hospitals, emergency management, EMS, coroners and others — to access additional resources.
Meanwhile, the hospital, which regularly conducts drills and specialized training to respond to bioterrorism or other mass-casualty events, has been ramping up training to familiarize staff on respirators and full-coverage protective equipment.
“We need the patients to not panic. There’s nothing to panic about. We’ve managed illnesses like this before, and we’ll manage this one,” James said.
How bad will it be?
Bill Kelly, epidemiologist at Greenville Memorial Hospital, said Greenville may end up with a number of coronavirus cases.
“Given what we’re seeing around the country and around the world, I suspect that we will see some coronavirus in the community. We may see quite a number of cases,” Kelly said.
The World Health Organization reported more than 110,000 people infected with coronavirus as of Wednesday, March 11. At least 4,000 people have died.
The number of cases in the U.S. had grown to at least 1,050 across 36 states with 29 total deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University database tracking the virus.
While the outbreak is a serious public health concern, most people who contract the coronavirus do not become seriously ill, and only a small percentage require intensive care, according to the CDC.
“At this point, most people are saying that it’s going to be like a really really bad flu epidemic,” Kelly said.
Though COVID-19 is similar to the flu, James said it’s also a new virus with no vaccination or medications specifically designed to target it.
“People fear what they don’t know,” he said. “We’re familiar with the flu. We understand the flu. We live with the flu every year. We don’t see this happening every year.”
Officials are asking that individuals who show symptoms of COVID-19 to call ahead before coming to a medical facility for assessment, particularly if they’ve traveled to an area with known coronavirus transmission or have come in contact with someone who’s tested positive for the disease.
For more information on the coronavirus and South Carolina’s response to the disease, visit scdhec.gov.
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