America’s hospitals are back in crisis mode-- the unvaccinated and the Delta variant.

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America’s hospitals are back in crisis mode-- the unvaccinated and the Delta variant.

Wed, 2021-08-18 19:34 — mike kraft

The delta variant is putting America’s hospitals back in crisis mode Hospitalizations — mostly of unvaccinated people — are rising nationwide as the country topped 900,000 cases last week for the first time since January. Frances Stead Sellers, Ariana Eunjung Cha, Hannah Knowles, Derek Hawkins Washington Post

With only about half of the U.S. population fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, hospitals across the country are straining to respond to a deadly fourth surge of infections driven by the delta variant.

Doctors say the nationwide outbreak overwhelming hospitals could have been avoided had more people been immunized. In the week ending Tuesday, 46 of the 50 states experienced double-digit growth in covid-19 hospitalizations, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. Eight states, including California and New York, which for most of the summer had not seen many serious cases, added more than 400 new inpatients in that time.

“It’s absolutely due to delta; it’s absolutely due to unvaccinated people,” said David Wohl, a specialist in infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina. “There is an incredible increase in hospitalizations across the spectrum, from just needing oxygen and some care to needing serious interventions to keep people alive. If everyone was vaccinated, our hospitals would not be anywhere near where we are,” Wohl said. ...

are there today. It’s a sad day.”

The numbers paint a grim picture. For the week ending Aug. 15, the country reported 911,529 new infections, with an average of more than 130,000 cases a day, according to tracking by The Post.

The last time the weekly infection count was that high was the week ending Jan. 31, when the country logged 1,032,785 new infections, Post data shows.

At the time, vaccines were available only to vulnerable segments of the population.

The impact on hospitals is at once distressingly familiar and strikingly different from previous surges, clinicians say. In addition to handling mounting covid-19 case numbers, hospitals are playing catch-up on elective surgeries that were postponed because of the pandemic. People are out driving on the roads and playing sports, experiencing accidents and injuries, and increasing the burden on trauma departments. Common viruses are again spreading as people get together — and cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are filling up pediatric hospital beds. And administering new therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies, is time-consuming....

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