Hospitals see younger, unvaccinated patients

Health experts alarmed at rising number of coronavirus cases.

Ohio health leaders said Thursday they don’t see an end to the spike in new coronavirus cases and are treating mostly unvaccinated patients, many of whom are younger than in earlier waves.

Also, a local doctor said he supports mandatory vaccines for health care workers for one reason: “I’m sick and tired of losing colleagues.”

Dr. Steven Burdette of Miami Valley Hospital and Wright State University added, “I’m tired of having doctors die. I’m tired of seeing respiratory therapists die. I’m tired of seeing nurses die. I’m tired of seeing patient care techs and medical assistants die of COVID.”

Burdette joined Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff during a coronavirus press conference Thursday.

Ohio’s new daily COVID cases surpassed 3,000 for the first time since February on Wednesday. The state reported 3,393 cases,

more than a thousand cases more than it reported Tuesday. The state Thursday hit 3,272 cases.

“I don’t believe that we are at our peak,” Vanderhoff said. “I believe that we are going to see those numbers continue to increase for some time.”

On July 7, Ohio reported a low of 17.6 cases per 100,000 people, Vanderhoff said. That number is now quickly approaching 200 cases per 100,000.

Burdette, Wright State University chief of infectious disease, said in November and December that most COVID-19 hospitalizations were elderly and nursing home-based patients.

Now, most patients are almost exclusively unvaccinated, he said.

“Our COVID intensive care unit is full of patients who are unvaccinated,” Burdette said. “We have younger patients. We’ve got patients born after 2000, several born after the ’90s, several born in the ’80s and a whole bunch more born in the ’70s.”

The increase in cases appears to be driven by the delta variant.

Ohio is using genomic sequencing to determine the virus variant, Vanderhoff said. From July 18 to 31, nearly all the samples sequenced were from the delta variant.

“We can safely assume any case we’re currently seeing in Ohio is almost certainly the result of the delta variant,” Vanderhoff said.

With cases continuing to climb, Ohio is also seeing more hospitalizations and ICU admissions.

While the state currently has “substantial hospital and ventilator capacity,” Vanderhoff said, officials continue to monitor the situation as other states are starting to halt elective procedures.

“We don’t want to see our hospitals here in Ohio face such a scenario,” he said.

Burdette said hospitals are seeing some vaccinated patients, but most are minimally symptomatic to asymptomatic and are doing well.

“I think what we need to do is to focus on what we know works,” Vanderhoff said. “That is part of the reason we are so strongly reiterating the importance of Ohioans getting vaccinated, why we are so strongly encouraging people to wear a mask if you are going indoors to a highrisk situation, particularly if you are unvaccinated.”

Burdette did not comment on any potential vaccine requirements for those outside of the health care sector. He noted that the policy isn’t new for health care workers, citing requirements for hepatitis B and influenza vaccines.

Burdette said many places already have processes in place to allow for medical and religious exemptions.

“So because we have the processes in place for people who cannot be vaccinated for whatever reason,” he said, “I have no problem with proceeding because I am tired of losing my friends.”

On Wednesday hundreds of people protested outside of Miami Valley Hospital and Kettering Health Network’s administrative offices regarding vaccine requirements.

Premier Health, Kettering Health and Dayton Children’s Hospital all announced this month the COVID-19 vaccine would be required for all staff.