Surge in COVID cases causing concern

Local health care officials reported a disturbing rise in COVID cases this week as well as a warning that ICUs in referral hospitals that would normally accept transferred patients are full.
Diane Keller, CEO of Memorial Community Health, noted after a conference call Thursday with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and other hospital CEOs from across the state that people who are unvaccinated have a 14 times higher rate of hospitalization than people who are vaccinated.
“Most smaller hospitals in Nebraska either do not have ventilators or the staff to manage a critical patient needing ventilator support, whether due to COVID or for any other reason,” Keller said. “The ability to transfer a patient from rural Nebraska to a referral center in Nebraska and the surrounding states is very compromised and could take hours and even days that the patient may not have.”
In addition, Keller reported, some of the referral hospitals are seeing a shortage of ventilators and have reached out to the state to assist with a solution. Dr. Gary Anthony, Nebraska’s chief medical officer, is working on sourcing ventilators to ease the shortage.
“Hospitals are feeling the impact of increased hospitalizations, especially of people who are unvaccinated, which cascades to affect all of patient care,” Keller said.
Nursing homes were seeing increasing numbers of resident COVID-19 cases started in late summer, Keller added, noting that the number of residents in long-term care facilities in Nebraska that are vaccinated is more than 90 percent. Currently, following a big campaign to get residents COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, Nebraska is seeing a significant decrease in the number of resident infections.
“The data shows that the boosters are having an impact to protect against infection in the residents, even though the positivity rate throughout Nebraska is very high,” she said. 
Keller urged area residents to get vaccinated if they are not, or getting the booster shot if they are already fully vaccinated.
According to Kirt Smith, Hamilton County Emergency Manager, there have been 43 positive cases in the last seven days, resulting in a 48 percent positivity rate.
Compared to those around the state we are in the “higher middle” range for cases per 100,000 at 686 per 100,000 for the district, he said. 
“So far here (in Hamilton County there) is a large Delta surge,” Smith reported to county commissioners last week. “I am unaware of Omicron in Hamilton County at this time.”
The hospitals are running pretty full, he added, there have been a limited number of ICU beds open in the area. 
“We have weekly meetings with the health department, the four local hospitals and the three area emergency mangers,” he continued. “The main concern is the high numbers of paients in the hospital.”
As far as what has changed recently causing this concern, Smith added that it is centered around the Delta surge and low number of vaccinated individuals.
“The CDHD has walk-in vaccines Monday through Friday during normal business hours and ‘till 7 p.m. on Thursdays,” he noted. “You call the Memorial Health Clinic here to get a vaccine and most pharmacies have them also. As of December 7th Hamilton County was at 54 percent of the 5-plus year olds fully vaccinated.”
“Please consider getting vaccinated, and if it six months past your last shot get a booster,” Smith concluded. “From the Nebraska Hospital Association last week, unvaccinated patients outnumber vaccinated patients 11 to 1 in the state’s hospitals.”