Guadalupe Regional Medical Center has been experiencing a surge in the number of COVID-19 admitted patients at our facility for the last ten weeks. GRMC is currently caring for 31 COVID patients in addition to our non-COVID census.

This COVID-19 surge of patients continues to stress GRMC and local health care providers as we all work diligently to care for the high volume of critical care patients with limited additional staff. Please know that we are here to care for you but that Emergency Department wait times and routine communications with family continue to be delayed. We are holding some admitted patients in the ER as they await bed availability and this impacts response time.

GRMC Statistics: The 7-day moving average for COVID hospitalizations is 34 per day. The 7-day moving average for new COVID admissions is 3 per day which has decreased from last weeks’ average of 6 per day. For the last two weeks, the San Antonio region has seen a slight decrease in the percentage of hospitalizations for COVID-19.

84% of patients currently hospitalized at GRMC for COVID-19 are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated. Following CDC guidelines, GRMC considers people who are two weeks out from completion of second doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or one dose of the J&J vaccine to be “fully vaccinated”.

GRMC encourages the public to continue to practice prevention measures. Get vaccinated if your family doctor says you are an appropriate candidate.

GRMC’s Regional Infusion Center: On Tuesday Guadalupe Regional Medical Center’s monoclonal antibody infusion service line transitioned to a regional infusion center capable of providing up to 50 monoclonal antibody infusions per day. The service physically moved to our Selig Room and Annex area on East Campus so that more patients may be served through a partnership with the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM). TDEM is providing staffing resources through a third-party contract to staff the healthcare providers necessary to administer infusions. This helps relieve pressure off GRMC nursing staff who have been staffing and administering infusions seven days a week for the past few months.

Patients who test positive for COVID-19 with mild to moderate disease and risk factors for progression to severe disease are candidates for monoclonal antibody infusions. Infusions are for treatment of active COVID-19 disease and should not be confused with the protective effect of vaccination.

Patients who are eligible for the monoclonal antibody medication:

• Patient must NOT be hospitalized or require oxygen therapy.
• Patient must NOT require an increase in oxygen rate, if using for underlying condition, due to COVID-19.
• Patient MUST be within 10 days of symptom onset.

Patients can contact the infusion center by calling (830) 481-4332. Doctors can contact the infusion center to obtain a referral form by faxing a request to (830) 401-8267.