Novant Health issues statement on leaked internal discussion of COVID-19 patient numbers

Dr. Mary Rudyk, who previously served as Chief of Medical Staff for NHRMC, responds bluntly, saying she feels the hospital’s messaging needs to be “a little bit more scary for the public.” She then proposes including patients she characterizes as “post-COVID” in the hospital’s case count – the primary source of the outrage on social media.

After sorting through an apparent misunderstanding, Rudyk further explained her point: “… I think those are important numbers – the patients that are still in the hospital, that are off the COVID floor, but are still occupying the hospital for a variety of reasons.”

Shelbourn Stevens, who earlier this year was named president of NHRMC and the Coastal market, clarified Rudyk’s request, explaining that patients who were initially hospitalized with COVID-19 but are no longer positive for the virus are considered “recovered,” and are therefore removed from the hospital’s COVID-19 patient count. Source: Local WECT TV Channel 6 News