When it comes to the COVID-19 hospitalizations from the omicron strain of the virus, the chart looks like a vertical line, said Dr. Wendell James, chief clinical officer at Prisma Health in the Upstate during a media call held Jan. 13.
Physicians with the Prisma Health system covered the latest numbers coming from the COVID-19 infections, and while infections from omicron aren’t as serious as those from previous forms of the virus, the sheer number of cases have driven hospitalizations to near record numbers — and it’s continuing to climb.
“It can still make so many people so ill, so fast,” James said.
As of Jan. 13, 628 patients are hospitalized in the Prisma system, and 78% are not vaccinated, with hospitalizations jumping 51% in one week, he said. There have been significant capacity restraints, and many health care workers have fallen ill.
Health care system again strained
James asked for the public’s help in combating the spread of the virus through masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds, vaccinations and hand-washing. He advised those seeking testing at the emergency room to go to one of the public testing sites listed by DHEC.
“We’re seeing a strain not just on us, but every organization in the Upstate,” he said.
Dr. Divya Ahuja, infectious disease physician in the Midlands, said that while the CDC and DHEC guidelines have been confusing, the science behind them is evolving quickly.
“This ship is being built as we’re on the water,” he said.
Ahuja said that having a natural infection while being vaccinated provides an extra barrier of protection from future re-infections. However, he said only 53% of South Carolinians have been fully vaccinated.
“That needle has to go up,” he said. “This is not the time to lose patience.” He said the present spike should be winding down by April or May but that it can be hard to predict such things.
43 children hospitalized in S.C.
Dr. Robin Lacroix, Prisma Health Children’s Hospital medical director in the Upstate, said those who weren’t vaccinated have immune systems that aren’t anywhere near geared up to fight the virus. She stressed that children should be vaccinated as soon as they’re eligible.
“We still have a long way to go with getting children vaccinated,” Lacroix said. She noted that 43 children were hospitalized across the Prisma system, with three on ventilators.
Still, physicians with Prisma all argued that the vaccines available to the public have proven safe and effective in combatting the virus.
Dr. Anna-Kathryn Burch, pediatric infectious disease physician in the Midlands, said that obesity, even in children, has proven to be a risk factor in hospital admissions. She also said that some of the children who’ve been hospitalized aren’t old enough to receive a vaccine yet.
“If this vaccine wasn’t safe, my children wouldn’t be getting it,” she said.
‘Not the common cold’
Ahuja said this shouldn’t be treated like the common cold.
“This virus will continue to change; it has a remarkable ability to change,” he said. He said omicron is about two- to three-times more infectious than delta. Antiviral medications have been used in some of the most high-risk patients, but he said supplies were short.
COVID-19 inpatients as of Jan. 13
Total inpatients*: 559
- Fully vaccinated: 129 (23%)
- Not vaccinated: 430 (77%)
On ventilators: 53
- Fully vaccinated: 7 (13%)
- Not vaccinated 46 (87%)
*COVID-19 Inpatients and observation inpatients; does not include hospitalized COVID patients who no longer test positive for the disease. Source: Prisma Health COVID-19 dashboard.
