In Utah, hospitals are bloated by unvaccinated COVID-19 patients Reuters

Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters)-The COVID-19 intensive care unit where nurse Janine Roberts works in the outskirts of Salt Lake City is again full. The patients are mostly young, mostly unvaccinated and very sick.

They arrived at the ward at the Mountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. They were intubated and unconscious. In many cases, the delta variant of the coronavirus is raging in unvaccinated communities across the United States.

Roberts said: “We have people in their 20s, 30s and even 40s who are very sick. We see all the patients who have not been vaccinated.” “This is the new terrain.”

Healthcare providers such as Roberts had expected that the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine would curb hospitalization. But state data shows that only 45% of Utah residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and their vulnerability is contributing to a surge in the virus.

On July 22, Utah’s intensive care unit was 84% ​​full, and COVID patients accounted for about a quarter of the population. In contrast, state data shows that on April 19, the occupancy rate of these wards was 59%, with only 11% of patients suffering from COVID.

The spread of the coronavirus and the rapid increase in hospitalizations in Utah and many other states remind people that the country is still in the throes of a deadly disease, and even though signs of life before the pandemic have recovered, people are flocking to restaurants, concerts and summer camps. .

Delta variants are more contagious than earlier versions of the coronavirus, allowing it to spread rapidly among unvaccinated people, many of whom are young people. Its rapid spread quickly overwhelmed the health system in the United States, and in previous surges, this has led to reduced care efficiency and increased deaths.

Its deputy chief medical officer, Dr. Kencee Graves, said that in order to make room for COVID-19 patients, the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City has begun to postpone unnecessary operations.

She said that the total number of COVID cases in the hospital was lower than last winter, but the influx of personnel and non-COVID cases made it equally tense.

She said that the reluctance of so many people to get vaccinated adds to the frustration.

Graves said: “It’s one thing to take care of someone during the first surge when it was not a completely preventable disease.” “Now it’s completely preventable. It’s demoralizing.”

State restrictions

The county’s chief epidemiologist, Ilene Risk, said that from the beginning of this year to July 9, there were 247 deaths in Salt Lake County, 99% of whom were unvaccinated. In the county’s postal code, the number of people vaccinated is small and the transmission rate is particularly high.

Dr. Todd Vento, an infectious disease expert at Intermountain Healthcare, a large healthcare provider, said the Republican-controlled legislature of Utah has banned local jurisdictions from imposing COVID-19-related restrictions, preventing public health officials from slowing the spread of infection.

Local school districts are also prohibited from requiring children and teachers to wear masks.

“You just look at it, like a train colliding in slow motion,” he said.

Vento said that one of his patients who refused to be vaccinated died of the virus, leaving behind a spouse and young children.

Dr. Andrew Pavia, a pediatrician in the Salt Lake City area, said the number of children in hospitals has increased sharply in recent weeks. He said that unlike previous surges, many people do not have the underlying conditions to make them more susceptible to the new coronavirus.

When talking to reporters late last week, Pavia’s cell phone beeped and his colleague sent a text message telling him that an 11-month-old baby had been admitted to the hospital and sucked in some areas of the state where vaccination rates were low. oxygen.

Nancy Foster, vice president of the American Hospital Association, said that wards across the country are crowded with COVID-19 patients and those who postpone care during the pandemic. She said that doctors and nurses have left the hospital for other jobs, and providers who may be willing to travel to the hardest-hit areas to help are needed at home.

She said: “After 18 months of COVID, the medical staff who have worked so hard to take care of people are exhausted.” “They were burned.”

The Utah Nurses Association is developing an online stress management course to help nurses cope, said executive director Liz Close.

At Intermountain Medical Center, Roberts said that she and some of her team are thinking about quitting smoking every day.

“A lot of people came to me and said,’This is too difficult,'” she said.

People’s acts of kindness for healthcare providers in the early stages of the pandemic — helping with laundry or free meals — have ceased. She said that some relatives of patients, especially those whose political beliefs have led them to refuse COVID vaccine and suspect medical institutions, may be unkind.

It is too late, and some people have realized that they or their family members should be vaccinated. Roberts said the hospital received a letter from a COVID-19 patient who eventually recovered enough to be sent home.

The patient wrote in the letter: “I hope I can take back everything I believe and everything I said about this matter.”