Kim Ward shares reports of covid-fueled burden on hospitals, but opposes vaccine mandates

Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, addressed reports from health system officials about the “dire situation” hospitals across the state are facing as they are being overburdened by a heavy volume of covid patients.

The officials have noted the vast majority of covid patients who are being admitted to their facilities are not fully vaccinated.

But in a Facebook post Monday, Ward stressed that she does not support any vaccine mandate as a way to help remedy the situation.

Ward said she is fully vaccinated and has received a covid booster shot. She acknowledged the value of getting the shots, noting she “could still get a break-through (covid) case, but it would likely be a mild case not requiring a hospital bed.”

She wrote, “Government should not be forcing something into anyone’s body that the person doesn’t want. Talk about government overreach!

“No one should be forced to get a vaccine and each person should make their own decision concerning doing so.”

Ward said she received updates from hospital officials in a Zoom meeting last week that they requested “because they wanted the legislature to know the dire situation they are facing. Flu hospital admissions are also up, which is contributing to the overall bed (shortage) situation.”

With hospital beds at a premium, Ward said, many patients arriving at emergency rooms are being held there “for days at a time,” with nowhere else to divert the patients.

“There aren’t enough nurses, vital health care workers and other support staff to care for all of the inpatients,” Ward wrote. “A couple of the reasons for that is workers are forced to isolate when they are exposed, just as everyone is, and some of them are quitting because of the Biden vaccine mandates.”

A legal battle is continuing over the Biden administration’s order that large employers have their workers either fully vaccinated or tested weekly for covid infection by early next year.

Spokesperson Erica Clayton Wright said Ward “remains firm in her position that vaccination is a choice and does not support mandating vaccines. That said, as a public official, Sen. Ward has access to information and wanted to share that information with the public so they have the facts as they make that very personal decision.”

Other than a vaccine mandate, Ward told the Tribune-Review that, if hospitals “reached out and needed specific help, and we could provide that help, I’m confident the legislature and governor would provide that help.”

According to information Ward relayed from the Zoom meeting and confirmed by hospital officials, Excela Health has reported that more than 85% of its hospitalized patients are not fully vaccinated against covid-19, and covid patients account for up to 40% of those in the system’s three hospitals in Westmoreland.

Excela’s emergency departments are overcrowded, stretching staff and significantly extending wait times.

At UPMC, more than 75% of those in the hospital for covid-19 have not been vaccinated. Most of the rest are older than 65 or have other severe conditions that limit their immunity.

Allegheny Health Network reports a “perfect storm” of covid-19 hospitalizations, with its 14 hospitals at or near capacity on a daily basis. More than 90% of the covid patients filling AHN beds are unvaccinated.

The chief medical officers at all three of the area health systems have urged vaccination as the best option for pulling out of the covid caseload crisis and for arming people against serious illness from the disease.

According to data posted Monday on the state Department of Health covid-19 dashboard, there were slightly fewer than 13% of 536 staffed adult intensive care unit beds available in Allegheny County and about 19% of 15 pediatric ICU beds available.

In Westmoreland County, there were 31% of 90 adult ICU beds open. The county has no pediatric ICU beds.