Metro Denver Hospitals Lack Beds To Handle Coronavirus Cases

DENVER, CO — Estimated infection rates of the new coronavirus would overwhelm hospitals in Denver's metro area, according to a ProPublica report released Tuesday and based on data from the Harvard Global Health Institute.

Even in moderate scenario, hospitals in the region would only meet one third of the demand for beds, the ProPublica report shows.

"Like numerous states across the country, we could experience a shortage of hospital beds," the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a statement. "We periodically survey hospitals for bed numbers and supplies, but those numbers change frequently, so we are working diligently to assess our real-time bed and supply availability.

"We also are partnering with local, private, state and federal partners to find the best solutions under very difficult circumstances."

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The state has asked recently-retired nurses and doctors to contact their employers to consider temporarily entering the workforce in the event of a surge of patients, Gov. Jared Polis said. The state has also reached out to medical students to prepare them for a possible surge.

From ProPublica:

As of 2018, Denver, CO had 5,590 total hospital beds, of which about 59% were occupied, potentially leaving only 2,270 beds open for additional patients. The bed count includes 840 beds in intensive care units, according to data from the American Hospital Association and the American Hospital Directory. Intensive care units are best equipped to handle the most acute coronavirus cases.

The Denver, CO region has a population of about 3.1 million residents; 12% are over the age of 65. The experience in other countries has shown that elderly patients have significantly higher hospitalization and fatality rates from the coronavirus.

In the moderate scenario, in which 40% of the adult population contracts the disease over 12 months, Denver, CO would be among the regions that would need to expand capacity.

It is estimated that about 8% of the adult population would require hospital care. In a moderate scenario where 40% of the population is infected over a 12-month period, hospitals in Denver, CO would receive an estimated 195,000 coronavirus patients. The influx of patients would require 6,510 beds over 12 months, which is 2.9 times times the number of available beds in that time period. The Harvard researchers' scenarios assume that each coronavirus patient will require 12 days of hospital care on average, based on data from China.

In the Denver, CO region, intensive care units would be especially overwhelmed and require additional capacity. Without coronavirus patients, there are only 330 available beds on average in intensive care units, which is 4.2 times times less than what is needed to care for all severe cases.

ProPublica, a Patch Partner, is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power and other public concerns. Click here to see ProPublica’s full story and specifics about hospitals in your area.

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