COVID is taxing our hospitals, but there’s a simple solution | Commentary
An emergency room physician I know at Wesley Medical Center recently told me that in his two decades of emergency medicine he had never seen a preventable disease consuming all of their resources. He went on to say that COVID is causing a backlog of sick, admitted patients to be held in the hallways of the emergency department, sometimes for up to eight hours
COVID has caused social, economic and medical devastation to our society the likes of which I have never seen. I joined Wesley in 1986 as an emergency physician and spent my entire career there, treating every conceivable medical condition. The pandemic tops them all. I was fortunate in a way, I retired after a long career in emergency medicine just before the pandemic hit. We had tough times in the emergency department during my tenure, but never did a disease stretch the resources of our local hospitals like COVID has.
When hospital systems become over taxed, elective procedures are canceled, exhausted staff work overtime and emergency department wait times skyrocket. This is partly why the medical community is so adamant about pushing vaccinations. There are few diseases that are almost entirely preventable – and COVID is one. Studies show that people who are fully vaccinated have a much lower rate of hospitalization and death, while the unvaccinated fill the ICUs.
COVID has become polarizing and politicized, and as misinformation proliferates, more people are opting out of vaccinations. This is a national tragedy. During the early 20th century smallpox and polio ravaged the world, but through vaccines the diseases were practically eliminated in just a few years because everyone came together and got vaccinated. We now have much better vaccines – they are safer and more efficient, yet some people refuse to participate, resulting in so many unnecessary deaths.
Kansas ranks 31st per capita in being vaccinated, according to the CDC, and currently has approximately 48% of the population vaccinated. This low vaccination rate, along with the upcoming flu season and the arrival of the omicron variant creates a potential perfect storm.
Fortunately, omicron so far seems to cause milder symptoms than the delta variant, but due to its increased transmissibility will likely reach a greater mass, making high-risk individuals more vulnerable. Unfortunately, the early data also indicates omicron produces a much lower rate of protection, meaning you may not be protected from future COVID infections.
Delta is the predominant strain in America but undoubtedly will be surpassed by omicron soon. The good news is that the vaccines thus far have shown to be effective against all variants. Recommendations by the CDC include getting one of the mRNA vaccine boosters if it has been six or more months since your last vaccine, good hand washing, social distancing and wearing a mask inside or at large gatherings. Breakthrough infections sometimes occur in the vaccinated but tend to cause less severe illness and much lower rates of hospitalizations and death. Additionally, Paxlovid and Molnuperavirare are two recently approved antivirals that show great promise in reducing rates of hospitalization and death, but they are not preventative like vaccines.
If you have not been vaccinated please consider doing so, not only for your protection but for those around you. The major transmission of the virus is through unvaccinated persons. Be kind, be safe and be truthful. We are all in this together.