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Hospitalizations are at an all-time high, but San Antonio not seeing the same trend in Intensive Care Units

ICU numbers are trending lower than overall hospitalizations, and Dr. Holly Day with University Health System explained why that might be happening.

SAN ANTONIO — It's the highest number of patients we've seen hospitalized during this pandemic, 1,520 people are in Bexar County hospital beds right now.

The high set during 2020 was 1,267 which was hit during the July surge.

However, the number of patients in the Intensive Care Unit hasn't increased nearly as much. As of Monday, there are 437 patients. The high of last July was 438.

Dr. Holly Day is a hospitalist with University Health System. She said that could be caused by several contributing factors.

"We do have more experience treating COVID-19 now than we did in March and even more than we did in July," Day said.

Day said they're more comfortable and better prepared to manage patients on the main floor. 

"I remember at the very beginning in March, this was a very unknown disease. We put people in the ICU early, we intubated them early," Day said. "Now we're back to pretty much maxing out all other forms of respiratory support before we go to intubation."

She said new treatments have also helped.

County Judge Nelson Wolff said another effort that could be keeping ICU numbers low is the Regional Infusion Center at the Freeman Coliseum.

With a referral from a doctor, high-risk patients with mild to moderate symptoms can receive antibodies. 

"And that's helping people not have to go to the hospital and thank goodness that service is being made available," Wolff said.

Wolff said the Regional Infusion Center has been operating for six weeks and has helped about a thousand people. 

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