Hospitals in the St. Louis region are treating more coronavirus patients from outlying counties, health officials said Friday.
That means local health systems are bearing the burden of the virus鈥檚 spread in rural areas, doctors said. The increase in patients from outstate regions is putting a strain on metro health care systems, which are regularly seeing more than 50 new admissions a day
鈥淲hat鈥檚 going on in those rural areas is going to affect the urban areas,鈥� said Dr. Alex Garza, head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where the bulk of the health care is consumed.鈥�
That has hospital officials concerned as case numbers begin to climb again in St. Louis and St. Louis County. The St. Louis bistate region in case numbers in the past week, and the rate of hospital admissions among people from St. Louis and St. Louis County is beginning to go up again.
鈥淣ow the urban areas are starting to catch up with the rural. That means there's going to be that many more patients coming into our health care systems,鈥� Garza said.
The region鈥檚 four largest hospital systems still largely treat local patients. But over the past month, they鈥檝e admitted people from Jefferson, Franklin, Monroe and other counties at higher rates than local patients, Garza said.
Mercy, St. Luke鈥檚 and other hospitals have fielded patient transfer requests from hospitals outside St. Louis, Garza said.
The increase reflects the coronavirus鈥� surge in rural and exurban areas, said Chris Prener, a sociology professor at St. Louis University who uses public health data to track how the virus is spreading. The highest numbers of new cases have recently been in southern and central Missouri.
鈥淭he perception we had early in the pandemic was that this was an urban phenomenon, it was something affecting urban parts of the state,鈥� Prener said. 鈥淭hat was never fully true 鈥� but more than ever, we are seeing this accumulation of cases in rural parts of Missouri.鈥�
St. Louis and St. Louis County governments have required people to wear masks in public places and have placed capacity limits on businesses. Jefferson, St. Charles and other counties have resisted similar mandates.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing the number of patients in St. Louis go up that are hospitalized, but they鈥檙e not necessarily from St. Louis City and St. Louis County,鈥� Prener said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e from more rural areas, and these overwhelmingly don鈥檛 have those mask policies and other policies that would help mitigate the spread of COVID.鈥�
Rural and far-suburban regions have fewer inpatient beds and limited medical staff, so they may need to transfer patients to larger hospitals, said Mary Becker, vice president of Missouri Hospital Association.
鈥淚f the one respiratory therapist has to quarantine or gets sick, that care is not available at that hospital,鈥� she said. "That鈥檚 why it really is important for the community to rally around these precautions and rally around their local hospitals.鈥�
Rural hospitals are experiencing higher rates of hospitalizations. They aren鈥檛 yet at capacity, but 鈥渋t鈥檚 something we鈥檙e obviously keeping an eye on,鈥� she said.
In emergencies, hospitals can transfer patients to other locations, even if they鈥檙e managed by different companies, Becker added.
Even if hospitals work together, they can easily manage, Garza said.
鈥淎nytime you have this rise in that population that鈥檚 being admitted it鈥檚 going to put stress on the systems,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think one of the things we wanted to show is this is a widespread disease, it鈥檚 growing at a faster clip in these nonurban areas, it is affecting people in the community 鈥� to drive home the point that we all need to be diligent.鈥�
Becca Clark-Callender contributed to this report.
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