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Governor Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma's Coronavirus Task Force held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City to provide an update on COVID-19 hospital capacity and revisions to the surge plan.

Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye said they understand that coronavirus-related hospitalizations are increasing and that it is concerning, but they wanted to reassure Oklahomans that the state's hospitals have the capacity to take care of coronavirus and non-coronavirus patients. He said the hospitals in Oklahoma are the experts in managing patient care and capacity, and the hospitals will continue to manage capacity levels to ensure that patients get the treatment that they need.

Dr. Frye said they've taken steps to address hospital staffing issues. He said this was an issue before the pandemic, so they're working with legislator to fix this situation.

The Oklahoma Department of Health is also working with hospitals on support for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The OSDH is working with other state agencies to ensure that transferring recovering patients in and out of hospitals in the state isn't a capacity barrier.

Matt Stacy, the Surge Plan Coordinator for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said Oklahoma is in Surge Plan III. Stacy the OSDH is working with specialty and rehab hospitals in Oklahoma to develop their internal surge plans as they're different than traditional hospitals. He said they're working with other state agencies to expedite the transfer of recovering patients out of acute care settings into an area where they can continue to recover after they've gotten passed the critical point in their treatment.

The OSDH is also working with other state agencies to develop locations to support the homeless population and those with mental health issues. Stacy said sometimes they linger in a hospital setting simply because they have nowhere else to go. He added that the OSDH is expanding its telemedicine support, they're looking at reimbursement for certain treatment methods, and they're looking at expanding staffing options through the Medical Reserve Corp and licensing agencies.

Patti Davis, President of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, said Tier I is where Oklahoma stands today out of the four tiers of third Surge Plan. She said Tier I is when less than 15-percent of hospital admissions are related to COVID-19. The admission percentage is based on a combination of both the number of medical surgical beds and ICU beds. As a hospital reaches the 15-percent COVID-19 threshold and capacity for all other patients, the hospital will initiate internal surge plans.

Tier II is when COVID-19 admissions in hospitals get between 15 and 19-percent on top of all other patients. Davis said hospitals will continue to initiate internal surge plans. She said hospitals will also rely on the Medical Reserve Corp to assist with staffing. Post-acute and specialty partners will then be asked to assist with patient flow as well. This all depends on cases per region.

Tier III consists of COVID-19 admissions in hospitals being over 20-percent. Davis said selective surgeries would be eliminated and they'll change staffing ratios to accommodate the higher patient demand. Patients in acute and specialty care will be transferred to a more appropriate setting to create more capacity for patients in need.

Then there is Tier IV. Tier IV will be implemented when COVID-19 admissions in hospitals exceed 40-percent. Surgeries will be limited to emergency cases only. Davis said they would also have to consider resource management tools to manage the demand on the hospitals.