If you receive Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling’s email updates, as many locally here in Beaufort do, there’s a letter that was written to him by the CEO of Beaufort Memorial Hospital about the current surge in COVID-19 cases in the Beaufort area.
Russell Baxley’s words echoed many other’s as the idea of wearing masks has taken on a more political role. Some folks say wear them, and some say let us decide for ourselves.
Here is the letter to Mayor Billy Keyserling from Russell Baxley, President and CEO of Beaufort Memorial Hospital.
Billy,
Thank you for the call today and allowing me to share my thoughts on universally masking in public.
Hopefully my perspective will be somewhat unique in that Beaufort Memorial has been on the front lines of this for the last 4 months, and if current trends are a precursor of things to come, things are about to get much worse.
We have currently seen our census of in house covid+ and patients under investigation double in the last week. We are seeing our ICU census creep back up with Covid+ patients as well. The volumes in the ER Covid tent and our express cares are overwhelming at times as things have picked up, as employers are sending multiple employees at one time to get tested, sometimes 40+ employees.
The organization is weary and fatigued, and thought in late May and into early June we saw a light at the end of the tunnel. This light seems to get farther and farther away every day.
This surge in positive cases is due directly to the lack of masking in public. I have seen the lack of masking personally and it is very disappointing.
I don’t believe it is reasonable to expect Beaufort or South Carolina to shut down again, but the only way to avoid another shut down is universal masking in public.
The only way to avoid overwhelming the hospital in a second wave is universal masking.
The only way to stop this current surge is universal masking.
The only way to save lives is universal masking.
If we are waiting on the hospital to fill up before we sound the alarms, then it is already too late, so the hospital is sounding them now.
Our objective should be to keep people out of the hospital, not wait until the hospital is full, but at this rate, it will not be long until that time comes as admissions and deaths are a lagging indicator and what we should be watching is the continued increase in positive tests.
And it is not just the elderly and the immunocompromised anymore… we are admitting the young and healthy.
We are learning very quickly that Covid-19 can affect all ages, and this false sense of invisibility is leading people down a very dangerous path.
So in closing, I will leave out all the clichés and plainly say, we each have a responsibility to protect one another during these unprecedented times and by not wearing a mask you are declaring yourself selfish and irresponsible, and we as leaders have to stand up for those trying to do the right thing and enforce universal masking before it’s too late.
Best regards,
Russell Baxley, MHA
President and CEO
