Onslow Memorial Hospital sees highest number of COVID patients since beginning of pandemic

Onslow County’s record month for COVID-19 cases continues.

On Tuesday, Onslow Memorial Hospital reached its highest volume of COVID positive patients since the pandemic began as nearly half of all patients at the hospital were COVID positive, the hospital announced on Facebook.

Forty-seven of the 61 COVID patients were not vaccinated, and almost half were in the demographic of 60-to-79 years old.

Onslow Memorial Hospital’s Director of Pharmacy Byron Lee spoke in a COVID-19 update on Facebook Live on Monday addressing the Omicron variant.

More: Omicron in Onslow: What to know about the recent surge in COVID-19 cases

“With the Omicron variant, you’re looking at a much shorter incubation phase, and that is the phase at which the virus gets in [and] spreads throughout the body,” Lee said, who stressed the continued importance of hand hygiene, masking and social distancing. “During that time, before you ever show any symptoms, that’s the point in time where it's actually the most contagious.”

Although Omicron has been described as producing milder symptoms than past variants, Lee still issued caution, particularly for people with underlying health conditions and those 65 and older.

“Omicron is a very quick sort of onset,” Lee said. “It spreads very quickly because of that transmissibility, and it moves from cell to cell very quickly. As a result of that, you start seeing symptoms quickly, and hopefully you have a mild case and you are able to get over it more quickly than with the previous incarnations of COVID.”

Vaccination is still "a very important way" to reduce the risk of severe symptoms and the possibility of hospitalization, Lee added.

Onslow County has reported four daily case records this month. In a Jan. 20 news release, the county reported more than 1,400 cases of COVID from the day prior.

More: COVID related staff shortages, job vacancies challenge local governments

From Jan. 6-14, the number of COVID positive students in Onslow County Schools went from 186 to 637, and the number of COVID positive staff rose from 45 to 187, according to the school system’s COVID-19 dashboard. Nearly 6% of students are in quarantine while less than 1% of staff are quarantined, based on the latest data.

Onslow Memorial Hospital has asked people not to visit its Emergency Department for a COVID-19 test unless symptoms are severe or it is a medical emergency.

Testing locations can be found at www.covid19.ncdhhs.gov, and free rapid tests can be ordered at www.covidtests.gov.

To find a vaccination location, visit www.vaccines.gov.

Reporter Calvin Shomaker can be reached at cshomaker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: Onslow Memorial Hospital sees high volume of COVID positive patients