SWEETWATER COUNTY — For the first time since mid August, Sweetwater County has moved out of the “red zone” and into the “orange zone,” for COVID-19 transmission rates. This means the county’s transmission levels have moved from high to moderate.
As Sweetwater County Public Health officials continue to send out COVID-19 updates, we’ll look them over and pass on any new information to our readers.
Here’s what is new in this week’s update.
Public Health
As for the county’s 14-day rolling average positivity rate, the county saw a decrease from 10.2 percent to 7 percent in one week. This information is based on indicators developed by the White House COVID-19 Task Force.
Sweetwater County currently has 119 COVID-19 positive cases which is a decrease of about 20 from last week’s report. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Sweetwater County has seen 91 confirmed virus-related deaths.
As for vaccinations, the big news this week was the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) approved the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine on November 2. It is recommended that children 5 to 11 years old be vaccinated against COVID-19 with Pfizer pediatric vaccine, according to public health. Click here for more information.
Hospital
Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County (MHSC) continues to operate at critical levels due to an increasing nursing shortage, according to the update.
“We are at the bare minimum with the number of nurses needed in the ICU and medical/surgical unit. Emergency Room staffing also is nearing its limits,” the update states. “This will be difficult in the coming weeks and throughout the holidays.”
The hospital has hired more nurses, however they will not finish orientation rotations until January. MHSC continues to seek help from traveling nurses.
Without nurses to adequately staff available shifts, patients requiring higher levels of care will be evaluated for transfer to other hospitals, pending bed availability.
