eizzo@adirondackdailyenterprise.com The workload facing local hospitals and county health departments is on track to becoming unsustainable. Health care officials are imploring residents to take precautions to curb the spread before that happens. In a virtual press conference on Friday, multiple doctors from University of Vermont Health Network hospitals and public health directors from around Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties warned that the local COVID-19 caseload was beginning to stress the operations of both hospitals and county health departments. This comes at a time when rural hospitals have already faced significant financial challenges. Before the pandemic, some North Country hospitals were merging and downsizing. Last spring, those financial challenges were compounded when hospitals were directed to cancel elective surgeries for several weeks, cutting off a vital revenue-generator for rural health care facilities that care for a relatively large number of patients
North Country health officials are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases across the region, a rise in demand for hospital services, and are pleading you to follow safety measures now more than ever. According to John Kanoza, Clinton County s Health Department director, contact tracers are having a hard time keeping up.They can no longer connect with positive cases on the same day they receive results, and people waiting for word from the health department is contributing to the spread. You do not need a public health order to separate yourself from others. If you have tested positive, or you know you have been exposed to a positive case, please stay home, Kanoza said. Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lisa Mark says it s important now more than ever to follow guidance from health officials. As of Friday at CVPH, they re treating more than 20 patients for COVID-19. That s certainly more than we ever had in early 2020 when we were at our peak of COVID th