Covid Conundrum: Do We Need More Hospital Beds?
Most of us assume the pandemic exposed a frightening lack of hospital bed and ICU capacity in Minnesota. The hospital systems don't exactly see it that way.
In early October,
Fairview Health Services made a surprising announcement: Though the Covid-19 pandemic was nowhere close to over, the health system laid out plans to shutter Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, which had been the only facility in Minnesota specifically dedicated to Covid-19 care. Ramsey County would go on to lease the space as a homeless shelter.
At the time, Fairview officials pinned the decision, in part, on a crippling loss of revenue: For the first six months of 2020, the health system, which serves many parts of the state, lost an unanticipated $163 million.