Hospitals plead in COVID surge: ‘We need help. Your help’
Hospitals plead in COVID surge: ‘We need help. Your help’
A few quick notes to start the working week
Today’s edition of the Based in Lafayette reporting project is sponsored by Purdue University’s Presidential Lecture Series, featuring President Mitch Daniels’ Feb. 1 conversation with Kenneth R. Feinberg, who oversaw the historic 9/11 victim compensation fund. For more details, scroll to the end of today’s edition.
A few quick notes to start the working week, happy enough that we didn’t have to break out the heavy equipment for that weekend snow. First up …
HOSPITALS: ‘WE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE:’ Signs that the latest – not to mention, biggest – surge in COVID cases had peaked didn’t hold up at the end of last week. Indiana touched a new single-day pandemic record with 17,684 new cases in Friday’s report from the Indiana State Department of Health. In a nine-county region that includes Tippecanoe County, its seven neighboring counties plus Cass County, there were 1,143 new COVID cases – the second most in one day.
Hospitals in Lafayette and statewide, trying to get people’s attention for months now, took out full-page ads across Indiana Sunday. In a combo effort from Franciscan Health, IU Health, Eskenazi Health and Community Health Network, the message was: “We can’t do this alone.”
“Almost two years into the pandemic – desire, expertise and modern medicine are simply not enough,” the ad copy read. “The situation is dire. We have more patients in our hospitals than we have beds. … Our caregivers are running out of steam.”
The advice-slash-plea: Get vaccinated. Get boosted. Get tested. Get masked.
Here’s the ad, which appeared in the Journal & Courier and others papers across the state Sunday.
WHILE WE’RE HERE …: Here’s a visual look at cases per 100,000 people, by county, since October, assembled by Micah Pollak, an associate professor of economics at Indiana University Northwest. It tells one story of the progression of the recent surge. And it’s worth a click.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT …: Lafayette wound up part of the story, first reported Friday, in a huge stash of internal chats and documents leaked from leaders and regional followers of Patriot Front, a white supremacist group that has looked to spread its propaganda through persistent vandalism and showy signs of their presence. Among the tens of thousands of messages from across the country uncovered in media reports: Plans to target a downtown Lafayette mural of George Floyd – something the national group took credit for hitting at least twice already. A story looking at how Lafayette fit into the group’s plans went up Sunday afternoon. Here’s a look, in case you missed it.
ON THE WATCH LIST THIS WEEK: With two weeks left for candidates to file for county, state and congressional primaries in May, there’s time for story lines to develop for the 2022 election around here. The list seems a bit light after opening Jan. 5, but Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush joked last week that it could wind up a big rush before the noon Feb. 4 deadline. Here’s what the Tippecanoe County Elections Office reported by the end of the day Friday.
Thanks, again, to Purdue University’s Presidential Lecture Series for sponsoring today’s edition. For details about Purdue President Mitch Daniels’ Feb. 1 conversation with Kenneth R. Feinberg, whose work includes compensation funds from 9/11 to the Sandy Hook Elementary killings to the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 2011, click the graphic below.
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Have a story idea for upcoming editions? Send them to me: davebangert1@gmail.com. For news during the day, follow on Twitter: @davebangert.