Memorial Health, HSHS seeing record numbers of COVID-19 patients; leaders urge vaccinations

With COVID-19 hospitalizations in Springfield at or near record levels and staff stressed like never before, hospital executives pleaded with the public Friday to seek out vaccinations and booster shots and be patient if they need to wait for health care.

“We are seeing the most intense surge and pressure on our health system at any point during the pandemic,” Dr. Rajesh Govindaiah, senior vice president and chief physician executive of Memorial Health, told The State Journal-Register.

“It’s affecting everything," Govindaiah said, referring to Springfield Memorial Hospital and Memorial Health's other affiliate hospitals in Decatur, Jacksonville, Taylorville and Lincoln.

“We have record numbers of everything,” he said.

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Allison Paul, acting chief executive officer and chief nursing officer at HSHS St. John’s Hospital, said at a new conference: “Our nurses are physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. While we do everything we can to support them here, we need your help within the community and the public.”

Govindaiah, Paul and Dr. Marc Shelton, senior vice president and chief clinical officer of HSHS, all said vaccinations and booster shots will help their hospitals deal with the omicron-fueled surge now and in the coming weeks.

About 61% of Sangamon County residents and Illinois residents as a whole have been fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Vaccinations and booster shots have been proven to reduce COVID-19 infections, transmission, severe illness and death, the hospital officials said.

“Omicron is extremely contagious,” Paul said. “We are back to the times of being worried about asymptomatic spread. If you can get vaccinated, you save a life. It may be your own. It may be someone else’s. But someone will be saved.”

Memorial Health was caring for 184 hospitalized COVID-19 patients on Friday. This new record exceeded the previous all-time high of 181 patients on Nov. 23, 2020.

Springfield Memorial had 106 of those 184 patients. Thursday's statistic represented a high point for the recent surge and was just shy of the hospital’s all-time high of 111 in November 2020, Memorial officials said.

Hospital Sisters Health System had a record 303 hospitalized COVID-19 patients on Friday, exceeding the previous record of 293 set on Nov. 17, 2020.

At St. John’s, there were 83 COVID-19 patients — a new record that exceeded the previous record of 78 patients on Nov. 20, 2020.

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Almost 80% of HSHS’ COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated, and more than 84% of COVID-19 patients on ventilators at HSHS hospitals are unvaccinated, according to the not-for-profit system.

A majority of Memorial Health’s COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated or haven’t received booster shots if eligible, Govindaiah said.

Getting a vaccination helps health care workers deal with stress that can be overwhelming, he said.

“Every time you get sick, you are putting strain on a system that can’t handle any more strain,” he said. “Health care workers are here to help you, but they are under the most stress that they have seen in their entire careers.”

Shelton added: "There's no doubt that the vaccines are effective, or at least partially effective, even against the new omicron variant."

And though there have been "breakthrough" cases among people who are fully vaccinated and boosted, hospitalizations of those patients are "primarily in those who have relative or severe autoimmune disorders," Shelton said.

"The good news is that it's uncommon for people who have been fully vaccinated, and particularly boosted, to get sick enough to be hospitalized or need a ventilator or die," he said.

Shelton likened COVID-19 vaccinations to wearing seat belts.

"Seat belts reduce deaths by a tremendous amount," but not in every case, he said. "The fact that they don't work every time doesn't mean that you shouldn't wear your seat belt to reduce your relative risk."

COVID-19 is filling Memorial’s emergency departments and delaying admissions to hospital floors for COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients alike, Govindaiah said.

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He asked patients for patience as they wait. And he echoed Shelton’s comments when he asked patients without severe COVID-19 symptoms to avoid seeking COVID tests in overworked EDs.

But both doctors said patients, regardless of whether they have COVID-19, shouldn’t avoid the hospital or doctors’ offices if they have chest pain or other indications of medical conditions in need of attention.

The Sangamon County Department of Public Health reported a record number of new daily COVID-19 cases on Friday — 1,295 — exceeding the previous record of 925 cases set on Thursday by 40%.

A total of 98 Sangamon County residents with COVID-19 remained hospitalized.

Menard County also set a new record for daily cases with 74, compared with the previous record of 62 reported Thursday. Eleven Menard residents with COVID-19 remained hospitalized.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 statewide are at record levels – almost 7,100 hospitalized patients — and the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is hitting record levels every day.

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Two new COVID-19 deaths were reported among Sangamon County residents on Friday. A fully vaccinated man in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 21 died Thursday, and an unvaccinated man in his 80s who tested positive on Dec. 14 died Thursday.

A total of 321 Sangamon County residents and nine Menard County residents with COVID-19 have died.

At Memorial Health, more than 400 workers, or just under 5% of the not-for-profit health system’s workforce, are unable to work because they are sick with COVID-19 or quarantining because they were exposed to COVID-19 recently, Govindaiah said.

That number unavailable to work rivaled the previous high in November 2020, he said.

Govindaiah praised employees for their dedication and hard work in filling staffing gaps.

Memorial Health has delayed some non-emergency procedures and taken “exceptional steps” to open up areas of hospitals to make room for the surge of COVID-19 patients, he said.

St. John’s has seen pregnant women and women in labor who “need special care” because of COVID-19 infections, Paul said.

She urged women who are pregnant or considering getting pregnant to get vaccinated “for both your baby’s safety and yourself and your well-being.”

St. John’s also is seeing an increase in pediatric patients needing care for COVID-19, Paul said. The hospital was caring for eight pediatric patients with COVID-19 on Friday.

“Please consider vaccinating your child if they are of an eligible age,” Paul said.

“Our nurses have had to watch patients die in their 20s, 30s and 40s,” she said. “Don’t think that because you are young, you are immune to this virus. It doesn’t care who you are, how much life you have ahead of you, or how many children you have.

“You do not want to be hospitalized for a COVID-19 infection, and you do not want your loved ones to be, either,” Paul said. “While we absolutely do everything we can for you or them, it is heartbreaking to see the rates of those needing a higher level of care who are unvaccinated and un-boosted.”

Though the Springfield area and the rest of Illinois aren’t experiencing the numbers of COVID-19-related deaths seen one year ago, before vaccines were widely available, it remains to be seen whether fatalities will increase, Govindaiah said.

The omicron variant may not be as severe as previous COVID-19 variants when it comes to overall population, he said. But the fact that omicron can infect more people more quickly could lead to even more preventable deaths in the long run, he said.

Contact Dean Olsen: dolsen@gannett.com; (217) 836-1068; twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield IL hospitals seeing record numbers of COVID-19 patients