FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The new COVIDComm system designed to transfer COVID-19 patients is already being stretched thin less than two weeks after it was started.
Dr. Jerrilyn Jones, with the Arkansas Department of Health, said the ICU bed situation is tight.
COVIDComm has been able to transfer just over half of the patients who’ve been in need of a hospital move and Jones said that is because valuable space might be taken up by another COVID-19 patient, or someone else who needs emergency care.
“Unfortunately, some of these patients have been on waiting lists, and sometimes hospitals themselves have had to find spaces for them in different states,” Jones said.
Jones said hospitals in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley are also caring for patients from outside the state.
