Dozens of Patients Wait for ICU Beds As Oklahoma City Hospitals Declare They've Run Out

Dozens of COVID-19 patients are waiting for beds across Oklahoma as health officials declare intensive care units (ICU) are full.

Coronavirus cases are surging in Oklahoma, with 27,754 new cases being reported since Saturday. (this is from Monday numbers + Sunday's numbers and Saturday's numbers)

The seven-day average for new COVID cases in the state reached 10,642, according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

There were 12,841 new cases reported Monday for a total of 110,244 active cases across the state.

Hospitals are unable to keep up with the influx of COVID patients filling emergency rooms.

The state's recent three-day average of hospitalizations stands at 1,521, state data shows. There are also 50 pediatric hospitalizations.

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows about 88 percent of the state's ICU beds are in use. About 40 percent of those beds are in use for COVID patients.

There are no ICU beds available at Oklahoma University Health hospitals, SSM-Health St. Anthony, Mercy or INTEGRIS Health, according to the OKC Hospital Report.

In their January 14 update on the report's website, the hospital systems say they joined together to share data on COVID cases and bed availability "to provide transparency about rising COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma."

"The Omicron variant has created a dire situation for Oklahoma health care providers, already strained by two years of caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic," the hospitals said.

Mercy Oklahoma hospital Tweeted "every one" of its ICU beds is in use. As of Monday, the hospital said it is currently treating 97 COVID patients and there are three patients in the emergency room waiting for an open bed.

On Friday, Integris Health said its emergency departments are "overflowing" and their employees are "exhausted."

"Our caregivers are exhausted, physically and emotionally – after nearly 2 years they continue to find strength, courage and compassion," the hospital said in a Facebook post.

Integris said it has "zero" ICU or inpatient beds available and is currently caring for 283 COVID patients.

As of Monday, the hospital said 41 patients in its emergency departments are waiting in rooms and hallways for inpatient or ICU beds "which are not available."

"In the past 24 hours, we've had to deny 73 requests for a patient transfer to our hospitals," Integris said. "The total number of denied patient transfers to one of our hospitals for the last 7 days is 447."