Liberty Co. hospital sees drop in COVID patients

LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - Just two months ago, Liberty Regional Medical Center was at full capacity. Fortunately, CEO Tammy Mims says that’s no longer the case.

“So, we’ve been busy, but of course not as bad as the last spike of COVID. However, it’s not been COVID patients. We really haven’t had COVID patients in the hospital like we had during the last spike,” Mims said.

Mims says they don’t have any COVID patients in their emergency room or inpatient rooms. They also don’t have any employees out with COVID. That’s down from around 40 COVID positive staff members in mid-January.

“We have the mandated vaccine. So, we’re over 90 percent vaccinated both at the hospital and our nursing home, which is very, very good. Those that aren’t vaccinated have either a medical or religious exemption,” Mims said.

She also says the vaccine has allowed staff members who have gotten sick to return to work sooner. However, they still have about 30 staff vacancies throughout the medical system.

“We still struggle with staffing; we have a lot of contracted staffing that we depend on to take care of our patients.”

And while masking is no longer required in many places in Liberty County, the mask mandate will remain in place for medical facilities.

“The CDC will probably release masks in healthcare as a last component. I don’t think…everybody is like ‘well, what about us?’ It hasn’t reached us yet.”

Mims says she’s happy to see COVID cases trending this way, but this isn’t a sign the pandemic is over.

While conditions at the hospital have improved, blood supply is still low. Mims says she encourages anyone who’s eligible to donate blood.

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