COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio hospitals have become inundated with COVID-19 patients as virus numbers continue to worsen, forcing some facilities to turn to contingency protocols to manage the high patient volumes, officials said Thursday.
What You Need To Know
- More than 4,300 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ohio
- Health Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said the surge is worst in northern counties
- As of Thursday, officials said Ohio has not detected the omicron variant
The large number of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization has caused hospitals in northern Ohio to limit visitation, cancel elective surgeries and divert patients unless they meet certain criteria for severity, Ohio Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said during a news conference Thursday.
“The current surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations is simply putting a dangerous strain on the state’s health care infrastructure. We are, yet again, in a serious situation — every bit as serious as last December,” Vanderhoff said.
More than 62% of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the last two weeks have occurred in the northern part of the state, he said. While it’s challenging to discern why the virus surges when it does, Vanderhoff said the region around the Great Lakes has seen dramatic increases in COVID-19 cases as the weather has turned colder.
Counties in northern Ohio with low vaccination rates are reporting the highest rates of hospitalizations.
“Hospitalization rates are 35 to 40% higher in counties that fall below the statewide vaccination rate average compared to counties that are above that statewide average,” Vanderhoff said.
As of Thursday, Vanderhoff said the new omicron variant has not been detected in Ohio, but he believes it’s only a matter of time. Vanderhoff said he is optimistic vaccines will remain effective against severe disease with omicron.
Dr. Joseph Gastaldo, OhioHealth’s medical director of infectious diseases, said during the news conference that the variant is probably already in Ohio.
“We have not yet identified it yet, but when we do first identify it, it’s nothing really to be alarmed about. We have the tools we need already today, and in the setting of what we’ve been doing now for almost two years, nothing changes in how we really defeat omicron,” he said.
In Williams County, where the case rate is the highest in the state, patients have been transported by EMS to hospitals 45 minutes away due to lack of capacity, Medical Director of the Williams County Health District Dr. Glen Seaman said.
“If our hospitals are full with COVID patients, we can’t take the patients who need other care,” he said.
Amid the current virus surge, it can be difficult for patients to understand what’s ailing them because flu and other respiratory illnesses are spreading in Ohio alongside COVID-19, President of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Dr. Teresa Zryd said.
She said loss of taste and smell continue to be indications of COVID-19. The timelines of the two illnesses tend to be different as well.
“With influenza or the flu, you feel bad almost immediately,” she said. “After that four- to five-day period, then you start getting better. With COVID, it’s a little bit different. It kind of rumbles along a little bit and you don’t start feeling horrible immediately. You feel bad several days later.”
