Leaders across the D.C. region on Thursday implored residents not to visit already-stressed hospital emergency rooms if they are seeking a coronavirus test or only experiencing mild symptoms, instead offering additional options for testing to meet demand as daily cases and hospitalizations continue to trend upward.
The warning comes as D.C., Maryland and Virginia all reported record highs in inpatient coronavirus hospitalizations Thursday, according to U.S. Health and Human Services data, which includes confirmed and suspected cases. Virginia had its highest count of inpatients with covid-19 — 3,126 — since mid-January 2021, while Maryland had 3,403 inpatients and D.C. had 847 inpatients, up from record highs set the previous day. The D.C. Hospital Association is urging officials to reinstate a public health emergency in the city due to the strain.
D.C. Health emergency response leader Patrick Ashley said Thursday that a “large number” of people are going to hospitals and emergency rooms in search of coronavirus tests — rather than taking advantage of the District’s myriad testing options — or because they are experiencing mild symptoms, adding extra strain to city hospitals, which are “doing well” but stymied by the additional burden.
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“We’re seeing a lot of individuals that present to the [emergency room] simply not knowing what to do if they get covid. But the reality is many of them don’t need to be in the hospital,” Ashley said. “They don’t need to present to the [emergency room], they don’t need to call 911, they don’t need an ambulance to show up to their house, they just need to stay home.”
In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced Thursday the state secured 500,000 additional at-home rapid coronavirus tests that will be deployed through the local health departments in the coming weeks, along with 10 new testing sites at hospitals, as the state grapples with insufficient testing to meet the omicron variant’s rampant spread.
As Maryland’s case rate soared to record levels, so too did the test positivity rate, an indication that tests are capturing only a fraction of the size of the outbreak. A legislative analyst told lawmakers Wednesday that in recent weeks testing doubled as the positivity rate went up five times.
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Tracking coronavirus deaths, cases and vaccinations in D.C., Maryland and Virginia
By Thursday, 32 percent of the nearly 60,000 daily tests conducted statewide were positive, well above the 5 percent threshold the World Health Organization says signals an outbreak is under control. The 10 new testing sites will be at hospitals and operational by the end of next week, Hogan said. Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state will open an emergency testing site at Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore.
Hogan said the testing centers are designed to divert people seeking tests from emergency rooms. All of the sites will be available for walk-up or drive-up without an appointment, Hogan said. He added there are 20 similar testing sites at hospitals now, and they have been effective at dropping testing demand at emergency rooms — at one hospital it dropped by more than 70 percent, he said. Hogan said the state has an abundance of PCR tests and secured more than 1.5 million rapid tests so far.
“Hopefully it’s going to make a difference,” said Hogan, who himself contracted the coronavirus last month, but said he’s recovering well and only experienced mild symptoms. “We don’t need to go to an emergency room to get a test.”
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The D.C. Hospital Association on Wednesday similarly asked city officials to establish testing sites near hospitals for those who are seeking them in emergency rooms. The association also said that declaring a new public health emergency, among other benefits, would allow facilities to activate “crisis standards of care,” enabling them to more easily divert resources toward certain patients as needed.
Ashley said Thursday that no decision had been made on the association’s request.
The seven-day average of new cases per 100,000 in Maryland was 208.84 on Thursday, down slightly from the previous few days, but still among the highest level it’s been throughout the pandemic. That number was 170.43 in Virginia on Thursday, a record for that state, and dropped to 279.84 in D.C., two days after the city recorded the highest such number in the pandemic.
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Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Thursday announced a $5 million investment for new community testing centers across the state, which will offer PCR tests near existing vaccination centers.
The chief physician at the Sentara Healthcare group said the system’s 12 hospitals in Virginia and northeast North Carolina have seen hospitalizations triple during the 10 days after Christmas to more than 600 patients Thursday — the highest total yet during the pandemic.
“And that is unprecedented,” Jordan Asher, chief physician executive at Sentara said during a media briefing, blaming the high transmissibility of the omicron variant.
Health-care workers treating those patients are also getting sick and are unable to work, despite being fully vaccinated, Asher said. Though there are still enough doctors and nurses healthy enough to treat all the patients Sentara has, the rapid rate of illnesses among staff is concerning, he said.
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Meanwhile, Sentara’s emergency rooms are overwhelmed, mostly by people with mild symptoms who want to be tested for the coronavirus.
D.C. had one of the lowest rates of coronavirus cases in the country. That has changed.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Thursday also offered clarification around the upcoming citywide vaccine mandate, which starting Jan. 15 will require patrons 12 and older to show proof of vaccination at most businesses. Patrons will need to show evidence of one dose starting that day, and two doses beginning Feb. 15. Those who are 18 and older will also need to present identification as well as proof of vaccinations.
Patrons can be exempt from the mandate if they provide a medical or religious reason, Bowser said — but those who do will need to also show proof of a negative coronavirus test from within the past 24 hours. Asked about businesses concerned about enforcing the mandate, or people becoming hostile toward the new rules, Bowser acknowledged some people may try to use the exemptions as a way to bypass the mandate. Officials have also said it’s not incumbent on businesses to prove that a patron’s vaccine card or proof of vaccination is real.
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“If we think we have promoted a foolproof system — or something that people can’t skirt — there is no such system like that,” Bowser said. “But we know if we get the majority of people participating, not just in showing their ID but getting vaccinated … then we will be better off as a community.”
Mark Menard, the owner of Trusty’s, a cozy neighborhood bar in Hill East, said he fears the new mandate will “add staff and costs.” He’s looking at adding a doorman on Thursdays in addition to the one who checks IDs on Friday and Saturday nights — an extra cost in a traditionally slow month that comes on the heels of a disappointing holiday season.
On the other hand, most of Trusty’s regulars are already vaccinated, Menard said, and he’s hopeful that knowing everyone else in the building is vaccinated will encourage those who’ve been wary of hanging out indoors with strangers to visit the bar.
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“I don’t like the burden of it, but I’m kind of thankful for every other aspect,” of the mandate, Menard said. “The benefit is that the people who are vaccinated are going to feel much more comfortable coming out.”
Bowser said the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and D.C. Health will also play a role in enforcing the mandate, depending on which agency has jurisdiction over the businesses, by doing periodic check-ins.
The new regulations will take effect just ahead of Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week, which begins Jan. 17.
“We’ve seen with this experience with omicron variant how contagious it has been — but also the very different experience people who are vaccinated have — in transmitting the virus and also in becoming very sick or dying,” Bowser said. “The vaccine to participate in higher-risk activities is so key to how we keep our businesses open.”
Jacqueline Dupree and Fritz Hahn contributed to this report.