This story has been updated.
Kentucky Health News graph, based on data from state Department for Public Health |
"Outcomes" mean recovery, death or something in between, such as the lingering illness known as "long Covid." Death is a lagging indicator of the pandemic, and Covid-19 deaths in Kentucky remain low, averaging less than four per day. But there is a rising level of sickness, as measured by Covid-19 hospitalizations, intensive-care cases and mechanically ventilated patients.
On June 28, Kentucky hospitals reported 169 patients with Covid-19. On July 30, they reported 625. Monday, Aug. 2, it was 796. Hospitalizations began a steep increase on July 15, and are doubling about every 12 days.
Almost all the new admissions are people who have not been vaccinated for the coronavirus, hospitals told Deborah Yetter of the Louisville Courier Journal.
The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care has likewise increased, from 51 on June 27 to 195 on June 30. On Monday, the number hit 250, doubling in 11 days. Those on ventilators increased from 21 on June 30 to 85 a month later, and to 98 on Monday.
Kristy Quinn, spokesperson for Baptist Health Madisonville, told Murray's WKMS that the hospital is seeing more patients who need serious care. “During the earlier surges of Covid, we saw larger numbers of inpatients at times than this, but the proportion of them in critical care was lower,” Quinn said. “To have half of them in [ICU] is significantly different from what we saw previously.”Hospitals say the surge makes vaccination imperative. Two major hospital operators, the University of Louisville and Med Center Health of Bowling Green, have told employees that they must be vaccinated by Sept. 1. Med Center Health, which has five Southern Kentucky hospitals, set an earlier deadline for staff in leadership positions, Aug. 9.
No comments:
Post a Comment