Hospitals brim even as COVID-19 cases plummet

Today fewer than 50 inpatients are being treated for COVID-19 across UW Medicine’s four hospital campuses. This is down from a pandemic high of 204 in January. Yet hospitals are brimming with patients, as demand remains high for care beyond COVID-19.

“For the most part, every bed is full,” said John Lynch, an infectious diseases physician and medical director of Harborview Medical Center’s infection-control program. "It is not just the decision to have care, it's care that is desperately needed by people."

Lynch encourages everyone to decide their own level of continuing caution. “Surgical masks, medical masks, K95s, N95s and similar shouldn't go anywhere, if you feel that’s the right move for you,” he said.

Download broadcast-ready video assets featuring Lynch.