DULUTH – COVID-19 infections in St. Louis County are now higher than they were a year ago as a return to school, spotty mask-wearing and persistent vaccine refusal has again allowed the virus to take hold.
"Area hospitals have been at capacity for weeks and have had to divert patients," County Public Health Director Amy Westbrook wrote in an open letter this week. "So much of what we're seeing now — the deaths, the hospitalizations and the exhausted medical staff — is preventable."
Last year's fall and winter surge led to the deadliest wave of the pandemic here, accounting for a majority of the 341 deaths reported to date in St. Louis County.
Fewer people have died from the virus since vaccination became widely available this spring, but hospital beds — and nursing staff — are now scarce both for new COVID patients and anyone seeking emergency care.
"There are a ton of patients on high oxygen in the hospital. They're accumulating because they're staying a long time," said Dr. Christina Bastin De Jong, a critical care specialist at Essentia Health in Duluth. "We were already really, really busy before the surge started happening."
Across the state, just 53 of 1,161 ICU beds were available Wednesday, according to the most recent Minnesota Department of Health tally. Five ICU beds were open in northeastern Minnesota. Non-ICU beds are similarly hard to come by, with 9% of northeastern Minnesota's capacity remaining.
"I'm concerned there are patients that will end up not getting the care they need because capacity in the state is so full," Bastin De Jong said.
About 60% of all St. Louis County residents are vaccinated, leaving 80,000 people — including children who are not yet eligible for vaccines — more vulnerable to infection.
