By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Mosaic Life Care has now tested more than 19,000 area residents for the coronavirus with slightly more than 900 testing positive for COVID-19.
Mosaic reports 10 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in St. Joseph on Thursday
St. Joseph Mosaic President Dr. Davin Turner says very few have had to be placed in the ICU unit and fewer still have had to be placed on ventilators.
“Since COVID has hit, we did have that early phase where we had more of those patients ending up on ventilators, but the percentage of those patients still was very low,” Turner tells reporters. “And now we’re seeing that number even lower, which is reassuring that we’re not seeing the respiratory complications as severe.”
The official statistics released by Mosaic Thursday morning disclose Mosaic has tested 19,449 area residents in its network, which includes Maryville and Albany. Mosaic reports 901 tested positive with 10 hospitalized in St. Joseph as of Thursday morning. Mosaic is awaiting results from 211 tests.
Turner says the average hospital stay for a COVID patient is 11 days, but it varies widely.
“But we have had some folks in our hospital for over 40 days with COVID and some even longer than that,” according to Turner. “So, there’s some folks who stay in an extended period of time. Most are staying five to seven days and being able to go home.”
The most COVID-19 patients hospitalized at one time totaled 21.
When the coronavirus pandemic became increasingly serious, elective surgeries at Mosaic were rescheduled as the hospitals and clinics prepared to battle COVID-19. Mosaic began building a COVID-19 ward. It increased testing at hospital entrances and took other steps to prevent a coronavirus spread in the various facilities.
The drop in income and rise in expenses took a toll on the bottom line.
“Initially, right after March 17th, we were generating $7 million less in revenue on a weekly basis and that is a rough number,” Turner says.
Tuner says he is pleased with how Mosaic has handled the pandemic so far, but adds a note of caution. Mosaic is keeping a close eye on developments in Kansas City, which has seen an increase in cases.