COLUMBUS, Ohio — As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations spike, Ohio health professionals are pleading with the public to get vaccinated, wear a mask and take a test before visiting family this holiday.
Officials from Ohio Health, Mount Carmel and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center say health systems across the state are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients with no break in sight.
In his zone, which stretches from counties in central to southeast Ohio, Dr. Andrew Thomas, chief clinical officer at OSU, said at the peak of delta variant cases there were around 1,000 active patients. Right now, the zone is back up to 900.
“It had come down really nicely,” said Thomas. “We were down in the 400 patient range in the first week of November, but it’s slowly climbed again in the last six weeks again to 900 patients.”
As a result of the spike, the medical system is pausing all elective surgeries starting January 3, following the lead of Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth and University Hospitals in Cleveland.
“It’s incredibly concerning,” said Thomas. “And at a time when the vaccine is safe, effective and available.”
Thomas says on the worst day of December 2020, there were 1,200 active patients.
“That was without having a vaccine,” said Thomas. “We never thought it would get this bad again.”
In Cuyahoga County, Thomas says the number of daily COVID-19 cases has increased four times compared to two weeks ago.
“What we’re concerned about is Cuyahoga County isn’t two continents away, it’s not two states away, it’s a two-hour drive away from Columbus. It will come here,” said Thomas.
Ohio State emergency department nurse Nate Royster was four years into his career when the pandemic hit. He says the strain of the spikes are wearing on him and his coworkers.
“It’s honestly exposure to a lot of trauma,” said Royster. “When you see a lot of people come into the ER and they die right when they get there, or they’re super sick.”
He says things are only picking up.
“Unfortunately we’ve just seen the numbers of people in the lobby rising and more critical patients coming in,” said Royster. “It’s hard to decipher which patient gets a bed, which people don’t and it’s a very hard moral decision.”
Health officials are urging Ohioans to get vaccinated, wear a mask or take a COVID-19 test before visiting family. Thomas predicts numbers will jump even more in the next two to four weeks.
