A major Boston-area hospital has hit a milestone in the fight against COVID-19.
For the first time since the pandemic began, there are zero COVID patients in Tufts Medical Center's intensive care unit, the hospital said Thursday.
Spokesperson Jeremy Lechan said the hospital had nine COVID patients as of Thursday, but none were in the ICU.
Tufts admitted its first COVID patient to intensive care on March 23, 2020, with Lechan noting it had been two years and one day since the unit had no COVID patients.
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Taking a look at the large Boston hospitals, the number of patients seriously ill with COVID-19 is low, with only seven in intensive care units of Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital combined. And COVID patients are taking relatively few regular beds.
At one time during the pandemic, across the state, field hospitals opened for extra bed space, and elective surgeries were paused. During the height, Tufts' adult intensive care unit was overflowing with 58 patients.
Today, the medical staff has a chance to breathe.