"Reduce Casualties" Securing ICU Beds for COVID-19 Patients, Global Emergency

Lack of Preparation Time Amid Rapid Resurgence
Only 9 Beds Left in Seoul and Other Metropolitan Areas
US Hospitals 60% Full, Some Over 70%
Europe Stable Compared to First Wave but Cannot Be Assured

[Asia Economy Reporters Choi Dae-yeol and Lee Hyun-woo] As the resurgence of COVID-19 has emerged in major countries worldwide, including South Korea, securing hospital beds for treating severe patients has become urgent. Treating severe COVID-19 patients requires intensive care units (ICUs) isolated from the outside and more medical staff than other diseases. The rapid spread of the resurgence, faster than expected, is believed to have left insufficient preparation time.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 2nd, the number of critically ill and severe patients in South Korea reached 124, an increase of 20 from the previous day. This is the highest level in over seven months during the COVID-19 phase. ICU beds for severe patients are also tight. According to health authorities, there are 306 ICU beds for severe patients in the Seoul metropolitan area, but only 9 of these are immediately available for patients as of the 1st.

There are none left in Gwangju, Daejeon, Gangwon, and Chungnam, and only single-digit numbers remain in other provinces. Official statistics show a severe shortage of beds, but the sense of crisis on the front lines is even greater. Beds for severe patients cannot be reserved exclusively for COVID-19 patients, and there is also an urgent shortage of medical personnel. Due to collective strikes, the number of doctors available to care for patients has decreased, and it is difficult to quickly recruit nursing staff, who are needed up to five times more than for general patients, in a short period.

Medical staff are examining X-ray images of COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit of a hospital in the western region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. <이미지:Yonhap News>

The situation is similar in other countries. In the United States, which has the highest number of cumulative and severe patients worldwide, concerns about ICU bed shortages have intensified. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued guidelines advising hospitals to keep about 40% of their total ICU beds vacant in preparation for the COVID-19 resurgence. However, according to foreign media such as The New York Times (NYT), except for 17 states in the Midwest and East Coast, more than 60% of ICU beds are already occupied by patients in the rest of the states.

In regions with severe resurgence such as Florida, Arizona, and Texas, occupancy exceeds 70%. According to the global statistics site Worldometer, as of this day, the number of severe patients across the U.S. is 15,844, the highest worldwide. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the number of ICU beds per 100,000 population in the U.S. is 25.8, the second highest among OECD countries, but the large number of patients makes coping difficult.

Europe, where the proportion of elderly patients is lower compared to the first wave, is in a relatively better situation but cannot be complacent. The number of severe patients in major European countries is stable compared to March when each country had 7,000 to 8,000 patients: Spain (864), France (409), Germany (245), Italy (107), and the United Kingdom (60). This is attributed to the concentration of major patients in their 20s and 30s, younger age groups, unlike before, which has significantly reduced the number of severe patients.

However, the spread is not easing, and the possibility of an increase in severe patients remains high. In Spain and France, daily new cases have again risen to several thousand. The number of ICU beds per 100,000 population is relatively high in Germany at 33.9, but in France (16.3), the UK (10.5), Spain (10.1), and Italy (8.6), most are less than half of Germany’s level.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.