University of Chicago closes special units for coronavirus patients

The University of Chicago Medical Center is no longer dedicating entire floors or units solely to care for COVID-19 patients as the number of hospitalizations for the virus fell significantly.

In a sign of the dwindling number of new coronavirus cases and the eventual return to normal operations, the Hyde Park hospital said in a staff email this week that it will continue to isolate COVID-19 patients but it will no longer need to block off large portions of the medical center.

At peak in mid-April, there were 140 virus patients hospitalized at the South Side medical center. As of Wednesday morning, there were 18, a hospital spokeswoman said. At one point, two full floors were designated for treatment of those infected with the virus.

“Going forward, our patients and community will be better served by caring for our COVID-19 patients in appropriate isolation rooms and allowing our COVID-19 units to return to serving their regular patient populations,” Krista Curell, vice president of risk management and patient safety, said in the email to faculty and staff.

The special units were designed to handle the onslaught of virus cases in recent months but are no longer needed, Curell said. Returning areas of the hospital to other uses will allow admittance of more non-COVID-19 patients, she added. The special units only applied to adult patients and did not have an impact on the university’s Comer Children’s Hospital, which has admitted a very small number of COVID-19 cases, she said.

Illinois has seen declining virus-related death and case totals for five consecutive weeks.

The University of Chicago’s actions are similar to those at other medical centers across the city.

At the University of Illinois at Chicago, the peak inpatient load hit 81 on April 30 but that number was down to 15 this week, a spokeswoman confirmed.

“It has been heartening to see the number of COVID-positive patients in the hospital declining,” University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics CEO Michael Zenn said in an email to staff this week.

In a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times, Dr. Kevin Smith, chief medical officer at Loyola University Medical Center, said his hospital has a floor and two intensive care units dedicated to coronavirus patients but as “numbers are down significantly, we are working to reduce our units to one ICU and one floor. If our numbers continue to decline, we will make further adjustments.”

Officials at each hospital contacted emphasized that their institutions would be able to respond to an uptick in virus cases as some predictions suggest will happen this fall.

“While we have been able to redeploy resources to other areas as COVID-19 cases decline, we will continue treating our community’s needs and remain ready should cases begin to increase again,” a statement from Rush University Medical Center said.

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.