Hospitals encourage vaccination as COVID-19 cases spike
Published 4:01 pm Friday, August 13, 2021
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As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across Mississippi, local hospitals are strongly urging residents to get vaccinated.
The Miss. State Dept. of Health reported Thursday that the state surpassed all previous highs in Mississippians hospitalized for COVID-19.
“Hospitals are operating at emergency capacity to cope with the incoming flood of COVID-19 patients,” the agency said. “Of the nearly 1,500 now in a hospital for COVID-19, more than 1,300 are unvaccinated.”
As of Thursday, 36 % of all Mississippians were fully vaccinated, according to MSDH. In Lauderdale County, the rate is 35%; the rate in Neshoba County is 22%; the rate in Newton County is 35%; Clarke County’s rate is 34%, and the rate in Kemper County is 31%. The national rate is 50 %.
At Anderson Regional Medical Center, most of the COVID-19 patients hospitalized are unvaccinated, said Dr. Keith Everett, the chief medical officer of Anderson Regional Health System.
“We have seen a dramatic shift from three and a half weeks ago when we had almost no COVID patients in our unit. Now we are hospitalizing 47 COVID positive patients,” Everett said in a statement Thursday.
“We are seeing a lot of younger COVID positive patients during this surge, many in their 40’s and 50’s, who are getting very sick. About 90% of our hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated, so the most critical thing we need is for people to get vaccinated.”
Rush Health Systems is seeing a similar increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“Over the past few weeks, Rush Health Systems, like other hospitals across the country, has experienced a rise in COVID-19 cases,” the health provider said in a statement Thursday. “As of Aug. 12, we have 39 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across our health system. 92% of those are unvaccinated.”
“The evidence supporting COVID-19 vaccination is clear, strong and growing” the statements said. “COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at substantially reducing the risks of becoming infected, spreading the infection to others and becoming severely ill or dying from the disease.”
