Today’s Knox County Health Department briefing had a guest appearance from Dr. Keith Gray, the Chief Medical Officer at UT Medical. In Gray’s appearance, he gave an update on hospitals in Knoxville and across the state.
“Over the last two weeks we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalizations with an increase in 60% in hospitalizations state wide,” reported Gray. “31% in the number of ICU or critically ill patients that have been hospitalized and a 22% increase in the number of ventilated patients.”
Gray added that the average length of stay for a patient hospitalized with Covid-19 is just under seven days.
Even with the growing number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals, Dr. Keith Gray assured that those patients are being isolated from others in the hospitals.
“We know from our experience in dealing with the shutdown from Covid-19 is that we delayed care to people that needed it that wasn’t related to Covid,” said Gray. “The hospitals are a safe place for folks that are either suspicious for Covid, have a diagnosis of Covid, or are seeking care for non Covid related issues.”
As of Wednesday July 8, Knox County has 616 active cases of Covid-19 reported, with 34 current hospitalizations and 10 deaths connected to Covid-19.
