Announcement: Healthcare workers at a 'breaking point' as COVID-19 hospitalizations spike

Stressed. Overworked. Understaffed. Overwhelmed.

That's how area hospitals are feeling with the current surge of omicron variant of COVID.

The solution — get vaccinated and continue social distancing and masking.

"We really need the community to step up and help us," Mary Mannix of Augusta Health said. "That is continuing to follow what science has proven is efficacious and that is social distancing, wearing our masks and most importantly, getting vaccinated."

Morale is wearing thin with each surge, Wendy Horton of the University of Virginia said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon. UVA and Augusta Health announced they would be banding together to get a message across to the public.

"We need help more than ever from our communities to do our part," Horton said.

The majority of patients being admitted into area hospitals are unvaccinated, both Augusta Health and the University of Virginia Medical Center are reporting.

Monday, the CEOs of Augusta Health and University of Virginia Medical Center sent out a joint release to urge unvaccinated individuals throughout the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia to get vaccinated.

Both Augusta Health and UVA have seen a large spike in COVID hospitalizations, along with a rise in staffing issues due to COVID infections. The latest surge has affected staff physically and mentally.

Augusta Health is reporting that the area is experiencing a very high level of COVID, which has been the case for several weeks. The testing positivity rate for the week of Jan. 16 through 22 was 52.3%, with an inpatient COVID-19 census of 48 and eight deaths over the past week, a release said.

Over the weekend from Sunday until Monday, there were 95 new positive cases of COVID diagnosed at Augusta Health testing sites. Over the weekend, there were 111 positive cases reported by Sunday morning, 192 by Saturday morning and 196 by Friday morning.

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With the omicron strain, there's increased pressure and unpredictability, Horton said, and hospital team members needs support. The two hospitals decided to work together and join voices to get a message out to the community. Both hospitals are pleading for community support and that means get vaccinated.

"We really want to turn a corner on this pandemic. Being united on this to raise awareness in our communities on what is happening in our health systems and explaining the impact it's having on our team members," Mannix said.

"The more patients that we have to have hospitalized, the more stress that this puts on our overall health system, and we just really need our community to really dive in," Horton said. "Help us get vaccinated. Get the booster if you're eligible, wear a mask. Help us practice good hand hygiene and social social distancing. ... Getting vaccinated is the best way to keep individuals out of the hospitals. That's why we're really urging everyone today, please get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible."

At UVA, the past several weeks there have been more cases than they've seen at any point in the entire pandemic. In the past week there's been 117 COVID cases — more than 90% of ICU beds were COVID, a majority of those patients are unvaccinated. Those on ventilators at UVA due to COVID are all unvaccinated, Horton said.

Augusta Health is seeing similar numbers as UVA — 80% of those coming into the hospital are unvaccinated.

"It's definitely much more of a capacity challenge," Mannix said. "Staff is getting exhausted."

Mannix said they are also losing staff — either some are pivoting careers or they are out due to health reasons.

UVA requires team members to be vaccinated, which ensures they have the safest environment, Horton said. Augusta Health's employees are required to be vaccinated as well. Both hospitals said with staff members being vaccinated, they are returning to work faster if they are diagnosed with COVID.

"Our team members have been at this for two years now and that's a long time for our team members to work under this stress," Mannix said.

"Our team is very exhausted and many are at the breaking point," Horton added.

Mannix said that some regret not getting the vaccine once they've been hospitalized.

"There's a tremendous amount of suffering and physical health challenges, and psychological health challenges that these patients go through," she said. "Not only are they going through really rigorous treatment, and are very, very sick, but they also have to communicate with their families in different ways because very often, we can't have open visiting hours."

To learn more about getting vaccinated go to vaccinate.virginia.gov or vaccinate.augustahealth.com.

Laura Peters is the trending topics reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Or a good feature? You can reach reporter Laura Peters (she/her) at lpeters@newsleader.com. Follow her @peterslaura. Subscribe to The News Leader at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Augusta Health, UVA overwhelmed, asking people to get COVID vaccine