Staff with Northeast Georgia Health System have confirmed deaths within the hospital system among patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.

However, it remains to be determined where those patients were from and if they had any underlying conditions.

“One of the challenges in medicine is trying to attribute what was the actual event that caused the demise of the patient,” said Clifton Hastings, MD, Chief of Medical Staff for Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

Michael Covert, Chief Operating Officer with NGHS, confirmed that as of noon Thursday, April 9, across the system’s three campuses at Gainesville, Braselton and Barrow County, there were 71 patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 with another 80 in the category of Person Under Investigation, or PUI.

Covert said that each campus has room to handle the current number of cases, but staff are preparing in case the numbers go up or there’s a second wave. He said the tests for COVID-19 are now coming in a quicker turnaround of 24 hours versus 2-3 days.

According to Covert, NGHS staff have increased the number of hospital beds across the three campuses to hold more patients. The number of total Medical/Surgical beds have increased from 474 to 522, while Intensive Care Unit beds have gone up from 91 to 125.

Sean Couch, Director of Public Relations and Marketing for NGHS, said patients who display symptoms of COVID-19 are going to the ICU beds, but staff have converted Medical/Surgical rooms into ICU rooms.

Covert said the health system has enough supply of Personal Protective Equipment units to last 10 days to 2 weeks but are using their gowns and surgical masks sparingly. Each hospital staff member is now required to constantly wear a mask.

“We make the assumption here that everyone has tested positive,” said Covert. “We want to make sure that we’re doing the right thing as far as taking care of our staff and physicians and treating all of our patients.”

Covert said surgeries are still being performed within NGHS, although the health system has currently suspended elective surgeries.

Hastings said NGHS has seen a decrease in normal hospital visits but each day is different.

“Basically, we’re flexing and moving each day to adapt to whatever the needs are, we still have capacity but our need to absorb is something that we are adjusting every day and growing every day,” said Hastings.