Coronavirus In Colorado: State Prepping Hospitals For Surge In ICU Patients

DENVER (CBS4) - Colorado health care workers are taking inventory of the state's current intensive care unit capacity in anticipation of a "major increase" in the number of COVID-19 patients.

The coordinated, state-wide effort to count beds and align resources aims to more than quadruple the state's capacity in a matter of months.

Current estimates show 1,849 ICU beds across the state, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).

The goal is to add 1,000 more by the end of May another 5,000 by the end of summer.

The Colorado State Emergency Operations Center has been tasked with reaching those numbers. The CSEOC is working with the Colorado Hospital Association, individual hospitals, and health organizations and personnel at the federal, state and local levels to achieve them.

They will start with a simple count of all existing beds and their type of care, then move to freeing as many ICU-capable beds as possible. One plan is clear out beds by transferring some hospital patients - those who are newly admitted or close to getting out - to surgical centers.

"These ambulatory surgical centers are capable of providing medical oversight for those patients who need it, and most of the centers have space, staff, and resources available since elective surgeries are being delayed in accordance with a state public health order," the CDPHE described in a press release Monday. "The beds opened up in the acute care setting could then potentially turn into ICU beds."

Planners will also push to identify adaptable medical facilities from old hospitals that have been closed or new ones still under construction. The Office of the State Architect will inspect and approve, and the Army Corps of Engineers will then re-purpose, other sites such as dormitories, hotels and under-utilized or vacant buildings.

"This includes looking at condition, location, number of potential beds and cost to convert," according to the CDPHE. "Ideal locations are within one mile and up to five miles of current acute care hospitals."

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Lastly, ventilators will be deployed to those beds.