COVID-19 treatment drugs in short supply in area

COVID-19 treatment drugs are in short supply at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis and Roosevelt General Hospital in Portales, as they are in the rest of the state, hospital representatives said.

Both hospitals are mostly concerned about the supply of monoclonal antibody treatments, which have been shown to relieve symptoms in most patients after a single 30-minute infusion.

Jorge Cruz, administrator of the Plains Regional Medical Center, said monoclonal antibody treatments are being given to patients who are most likely to suffer severe COVID-19 symptoms because of conditions like diabetes and obesity.

The hospital is administering monoclonal antibody treatments at a rate of eight to 10 a day.

Patients in less urgent need, he said, are receiving treatments of remdesivir, which requires infusions over a three-day period.

Kaye Green, chief executive officer of Roosevelt General Hospital, said “Our primary concern is receiving government allocations of monoclonal antibody therapies,” which, she said, are essential to prevent hospitalization.

“The amount of therapies shipped to our state has been insufficient to meet demand,” she said.

Cruz said oral COVID-19 drugs like Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, which are also in short supply nationwide, can be made available within five days of being ordered through the PRMC pharmacy.

Green said state hospitals have seen shortages of other supplies, as well.

“Hospitals are facing shortage of saline solutions, emergency syringes, and pain medications,” she said, but RGH has avoided complete supply outages.

“We are actively evaluating all medications for supply concerns,” she said.

Supply issues have not affected patient care, she said.

“Our standard suppliers, along with the RGH materials staff, have gone through great lengths to ensure we are receiving safe, quality supplies.”

Cost of supplies, she said, has increased over the past few years.

Meanwhile, at both hospitals, COVID-19 cases are high.

PRMC had COVID-patients in 25 beds as of midweek, Cruz said, which, was creating capacity concerns.

The New Mexico Department of Health reported on Friday that 10 patients were hospitalized in Roosevelt County.

Cruz said that, so far, the hospital has been able to handle the higher patient load.

Green said at RGH, “we have been provided information from other facilities on utilizing FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) nurses and this is an option we are exploring.”

As of Friday, Curry County had added 527 cases of COVID-19 over a seven-day period, the equivalent of 1,076.5 cases per 100,000 population, according to the New Mexico Department of Health. There were 22 patients hospitalized over that seven-day period.

In Roosevelt County, over the same period, there were 316 cases reported, the equivalent of 1,708 cases per 100,000 population.

In Curry County, 55.8% of the population was fully vaccinated as of Friday, DOH reported, while in Roosevelt County, only 43.3% of the population was fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in the state.