After a months-long lull, 11 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Friday at Johnson Memorial Hospital, signaling the start of another surge not seen since last fall.
Though the hospital has the capacity to treat more COVID-19 patients, the number is troubling because hospitalizations are now preventable, said Dr. David Dunkle, Johnson Memorial’s president and CEO.
Many county residents refuse to get a vaccine that would, most likely, keep them out of the hospital, a decision that has health care workers exasperated, Dunkle said.
“There are so many people who are oblivious to what is actually going on. It is disheartening as a health care worker. They don’t trust the data out there. They think we are making it up. They aren’t dealing in facts,” he said Monday after what was a busy weekend for doctors and nurses.
Recent surge linked to anti-vaxxers, variant
The hospital hasn’t had that many people hospitalized with COVID-19-related illnesses since vaccines became available.
Hospitalizations had fallen to eight by Monday, but it is sure to be temporary as the local positivity rate is higher than it has been in months, and the virus is spreading quickly, Dunkle said.
Statewide, more than 1,400 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 for the first time since February, according to data from the Indiana Department of Health.
Johnson County’s 7-day positivity rate was 10.1%, which, when combined with the high number of newly reported cases last week, put the county back in “orange,” based on the state’s color-coded metrics. “Orange” is the second-highest risk category for community spread.
Newly reported cases have been markedly higher the past few weeks in Johnson County, where 40 or more new cases are being reported daily. More than 500 new cases have been reported since Aug. 9, including 100 new cases on Friday alone.
Some of those people who are testing positive are vaccinated, but the good news is none of those people have turned up at the hospital. As of Friday, no vaccinated person has been hospitalized due to COVID-19 at Johnson Memorial, Dunkle said.
Vaccinated individuals being hospitalized for a COVID-19-related illness is rare. So far, 0.008% of vaccinated Hoosiers have been hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s just 226 people of the nearly 3 million who are fully vaccinated, according to state data.
Vaccinated individuals getting COVID-19 is also rare. So far, 0.225% of vaccinated Hoosiers have tested positive since January. That’s just 6,740 out of the nearly 3 million who are fully vaccinated, state data shows.
The recent surge has also been linked to the Delta variant, which is highly transmissible, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People who become infected may spread the virus to two times as many people as the original strain of COVID-19, the CDC says.
Dunkle encourages everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated because it remains remarkably effective. The vaccines were never intended to stop all infections, but rather to prevent COVID-19 related deaths and hospitalizations, he said.
Local anecdotal evidence proves the vaccines are working. Those who become infected after vaccination recover quickly and have few, if any, severe symptoms, Dunkle said.
Some of the unvaccinated, however, are becoming very ill even if they don’t have other risk factors including age, obesity or health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, he said.
Evolved strains of the virus appear to put all ages at risk. Johnson Memorial has seen patients older than 90 and others in their early 20s, Dunkle said.
Hospital remains in good shape, for now
The hospital remains in good shape to continue non-emergency surgeries, which other hospitals around the nation have started canceling again. But the hospital is preparing for its COVID-19 patient count to stay elevated. Newly hired nurses are ready to serve alongside those who have been helping fend off the virus since March 2020, he said.
The key to keeping all areas of the hospital open will depend more on staff and patient acuity than beds. COVID-19 patients require a lot of care and nurses with specialized skills to treat them, Dunkle said.
There are 24 isolation rooms available for COVID-19 patients, and the hospital has the ability to expand to more rooms without negative air flow if the need arises. The highest COVID-19 patient count was 19 last fall, so Dunkle is hopeful 24 isolation rooms will be adequate, he said.
More late adopters are getting vaccinated recently, but the county is still far from reaching what some say is herd immunity. If more don’t take the shots, Dunkle worries about what that will mean for the hospital and already-weary staff, he said.
“I’m losing faith we are going to move the needle much further. So now I have to focus my efforts on having the staff, the supplies and hospital beds to care for people. I also have to keep my staff from getting burnt out,” Dunkle said.
Without more people taking the vaccine, hospitals could be on an endless roller coaster, with case counts rising and falling with each new strain of the virus, he said.
In Johnson County, 57.6% of residents are fully vaccinated, higher than the state’s 51.4% vaccination rate, but still far from the 70-80% that’s needed. Needham Township and Bargersville are still the only communities in Johnson County with at least 70% of residents fully vaccinated, at 78.3% and 74.8%, respectively.
Both Greenwood zip codes have stalled out in the mid-60% range. Franklin crossed the 50% threshold, while Whiteland, Trafalgar, Nineveh and Edinburgh continue to lag behind with rates between 46% and 40%.
