The delta variant of the novel coronavirus is gaining a terrifying foothold in areas of the country with low vaccination rates and is spurring the White House on to Mobilize surge response teams to combat the variant that could undo the nation’s progress in fighting the pandemic.
About 1,000 counties in the US have vaccination rates below 30%, mostly in the Southeast and Midwest, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday. Walensky warned that communities with low vaccination rates remain prone to the “hypertransmissible” variant.
In southwest Missouri, CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards raised the alarm on Twitter as he saw the variant catch on in his community, leading to a surge in hospitalizations and cases. The vaccination rates in some of the Springfield counties are below 30%, according to the CDC.
For the first time during the entire pandemic, CoxHealth, based in Springfield, Missouri, had to reroute patients to hospitals in major metropolitan areas such as Kansas City and St. Louis.
“It has grown so quickly that it has overtaken our ability to meet demand,” Edwards said in an interview on the Thursday before the holiday weekend.
The main problem is that the six hospital system does not have enough nurses to respond to the recent surge in hospital admissions and has difficulty finding traveling nurses to meet the need. CoxHealth currently has 100 traveling nurses. It takes twice that amount, said Edwards.
“We can’t find her,” he said. “We think this is due to the seasonality of the [traveling nurses]”A lot of people worked really hard in the winter months, they worked overtime, made extra money, and now they may be home with their children for the summer.”
Lots of hospitals were report a lack of maintenance since the end of last year, and some have made it offer steep sign-up bonuses and other measures.
CoxHealth was well prepared for the initial surge in COVID-19. In response to the pandemic, it built an entirely new unit with 33 beds.
Edwards wants other hospital operators to know that this latest variant is catching on much faster, despite some protection from vaccines.
“Falling numbers are going to be faster than the fall so you don’t have much time to get ready so get ready now,” Edwards said.
CoxHealth is currently treating more than 100 COVID-19 positive patients. Just a few weeks ago, this number was around 14 patients. At its highest point, the system reached 170 COVID-19 patients.
At that point, Edwards said the system does not close electives due to the requirements of COVID-19 patients. Its hospitals are also full because they are treating more routine patients who postponed care last year.
As the holiday weekend approaches, some fear that more gatherings could trigger more outbreaks, especially in areas with low vaccination rates. Some local governments, including Los Angeles and St. Louis, are asking people to mask themselves indoors, even if they are already vaccinated, to slow the spread of the variant, comes on top of it renewed advice on masking from the World Health Organization.
Also some parts of the country are experience record high temperatureswhich puts further strain on hospitals’ resources.
