Ballad: Hospitalization average stay increasing, increasing amount of hospitalizations ‘a concern’

Ballad Health officials are seeing concerning hospitalization trends as the COVID-19 pandemic continues on.

Chief Operating Officer Eric Deaton on Wednesday said hospitalized patients in the system are seeing now 8 to 9 days average stay, a jump of an average of around seven days from early on in the pandemic. Deaton also reported 171 total in-house deaths from COVID, with 82% of those deaths occurring between Aug. and Oct. that even included the death of a 26-year old patient.

As of Wednesday, the system had 96 patients hospitalized, including 16 in the ICU and seven on a ventilator. Ballad also reported close to 1,700 cases from data last week in their 21 county service area, the second highest total since the start of the pandemic.

Photo Courtesy: Ballad Health