FirstHealth has most hospitalized COVID patients since start of pandemic

Jan. 22—ROCKINGHAM — FirstHealth of the Carolinas is currently seeing the highest number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients across all of its locations since the pandemic began, though hospitalizations and severe cases are at a lower percentage of the new cases than during past surges.

Emily Sloan, director of public relations for FirstHealth, said that they've seen a surge of new cases over the last two weeks, which followed the holidays just as the surge in 2021 did. As of Thursday, the hospital chain had 129 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 109 of which were being held in isolation. The current rate of positive COVID-19 test results is 50%.

The trend of unvaccinated people making up the majority of those with severe cases has continued. FirstHealth currently has 15 COVID patients in the ICU and 10 of those are unvaccinated, and two of the three patients on ventilators are unvaccinated, according to Sloan.

"Overall, we are seeing more positive COVID cases, so the hospitalizations are a lower overall percentage compared to other surges," Sloan said. "Today's COVID census is the highest number of hospitalized COVID patients we've had in our system at any one time throughout the pandemic."

Comparing data on vaccinated vs. unvaccinated

While the trend of unvaccinated people getting the worst of the pandemic has been consistent throughout, many people have held out from getting it, some due to religious beliefs or due to allergies to the vaccine's ingredients, while others have avoided it due to claims that the vaccine is in some way harmful or simply ineffective.

Both the Richmond County Health Department and FirstHealth-Richmond have seen only minor side effects from getting the shots which are typically mild and only last one to two days, based on interviews with county and FirstHealth officials including FirstHealth's infectious disease physician Dr. Gretchen Arnoczy.

"The most commonly reported side effects from the vaccines continue to be pain, redness or swelling where the shot was given," Sloan said.

A CDC study released early last year which looked at the results of the earliest doses of the vaccines that were administered showed that acute allergic reactions occurred at a rate of 4.5 out of every million doses.

Arnoczy told the Daily Journal in February 2021 that the vaccine does not completely reduce the risk of catching the virus, but makes the case less severe and less transmissible to others. In an updated report on new data during the time of the Delta surge in September, the CDC observed that fully vaccinated people were less likely to catch the virus and less likely to transmit the virus than those who were unvaccinated.

"The risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection in fully vaccinated people cannot be completely eliminated as long as there is continued community transmission of the virus," read the September CDC report.

Both Sloan and Health Director Cheryl Speight told the Daily Journal that they've seen stronger protection against infection in those who have gotten the booster compared to those who have not. Speight added that the booster improves protection even for those who have been previously infected and therefore have antibodies.

"Boosters appear to provide more robust protection against severe disease from COVID," Sloan said. "While a large number of vaccinated individuals are getting COVID during this massive surge in cases, vaccines continue to provide the greatest protection from the most severe disease."

Impact on healthcare workers

Sloan said the Omicron variant that emerged late last year has brought "unique challenges" for care providers because of its high rate of transmission. There are currently 200 employees across the FirstHealth system who are out of work due to COVID infection, which represents 3.5% of their workforce, according to Sloan.

"Staffing has been an ongoing challenge. FirstHealth implemented a Capacity Response Plan to deploy available staff to other areas that have critical staffing needs," she explained. "The FirstHealth family continues to pull together to fight this pandemic."

She added that the hospital still has a "strong" level of medical supplies and PPE for staff.

Last week, the Health Department was forced to pull back from some of the public data reporting it has done consistently since the pandemic began in order to cope with the demand on staff. They are no longer including a map showing the positive case totals for each zip code in the county, which requires staff to record the address of each patient, and they are no longer sending press releases to media nor posting them on Facebook when there is a COVID-19-related death.

New federal supplies on the way

The Biden administration has announced its plan to distribute 400 million free KN95 or N95 masks — which are of higher quality than cloth masks — to the public over the coming weeks which will amount to three masks per adult, The Washington Post reported. The Richmond County Health Department received a limited amount this week which have been given to industrial facilities, some businesses, jail staff and nursing homes.

It's unclear when these masks will be available for free at local pharmacies and community health centers. In the meantime, only Food Lion is carrying KN95 masks, while Walmart and other pharmacies carry surgical masks, which are preferred over cloth masks. Health experts have also advised that masks should be well-fitting on the wearer's face to further eliminate transmission.

Also as a part of the Biden administration's renewed effort to combat Omicron, the general public can order a set of four at-home COVID-19 tests for free through the USPS website: https://special.usps.com/testkits.

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Reach Gavin Stone at 910-817-2673.