Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, began the weekly COVID-19 briefing with sobering words.
“I’ve never been more concerned about the health of our state than I am at this time,” she said.
COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide have tripled in the span of three weeks.
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“The COVID-19 pandemic is reaching heights that South Carolina has experienced only once before — in January 2021. We are currently experiencing the second highest rate of new, daily cases, and the curve is sharply trending upward. According to the CDC, our entire state is currently experiencing a high level of transmission of COVID-19,” she said.
The delta variant is driving the increase, although current vaccinations have proven to be effective against the more aggressive strain. The state is losing a battle against an infectious disease that healthcare providers have the weapons to prevent.
“At this time, we are at a public health crisis. We have to stop transmission now,” she said. “We could soon see 5,000 to 6,000 cases a day if we do not do more now. More than 10,000 people have lost their lives in our state, and more than 45,000 doses of life-saving vaccine have expired and gone to waste in our state. The juxtaposition of those two facts is really heartbreaking.”
The number of new cases is also rising in Georgia. From Aug. 9 to Aug. 12, the state had 18,753 new cases.
Dr. Phillip Coule, vice president and chief medical officer for Augusta University Health System, said physicians are seeing a rise in both adult and pediatric patients.
Like South Carolina, the delta variant is responsible for the number of new cases higher.
“We’ve learned a lot of things on how to treat it. We’ve made a lot of advances in care. This is impacting a younger patient population more seriously,” said Coule. “Unfortunately, we have some very young, otherwise healthy patients who are unvaccinated and are critically ill and on full life support. Not like people typically think about life support, but actually on what’s called ECMO.”
ECMO stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. It works outside the body to pump and oxygenate a patient’s blood. It also allows the heart and lungs to rest and heal. ECMO is the highest level of treatment available for people in respiratory or cardiac crisis. It is not a new treatment; it has been available at AU since the early 1990s, but it is more commonly used for neonatal and pediatric patients. It’s been in use for COVID-19 patients for about a year.
Hospitalizations are also continuing to climb, with one inescapable fact — most of the people being hospitalized are unvaccinated.
University Hospital started the week with 91 inpatients. By Aug. 12, the number of patients had climbed to 98. Just nine of those 98 patients are vaccinated.
At Doctors Hospital, cases have gone from 39 inpatients on Aug. 9 to 48 on Aug. 12. Spokesman Kaden Jacobs said 36 are unvaccinated, four fully-vaccinated, one partially vaccinated and seven “unknowns but likely not vaccinated.”
On Aug. 10, Augusta University Health had 77. As of Aug. 12, there were 80, five of them pediatric. Spokeswoman Lisa Kaylor said, “We do not have an accurate count of vaccinated individuals, as we can only account for those we’ve vaccinated, not those vaccinated elsewhere.”
The growing surge of COVID-19 cases as schools return to session has DHEC’s Bell worried.
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“I’m greatly concerned this school year could be the perfect storm for disease spread if we have unvaccinated and unmasked students and teachers together,” she said. “In fact, in one week alone, we have confirmed 68 cases of COVID-19 among students and 17 cases among school employees. That’s with only a handful of schools that have students and faculty on campus.”
There is something that concerns AU’s Coule even more than the classrooms.
“It’s not the classroom that’s the problem, in my opinion,” he explained. “It’s what happens outside the classroom that’s probably just as great a risk. You can mandate masks in the classroom and at school, but when they leave the school, if they go hang out with 30 teenagers, what have you really accomplished?”
MORE: COVID-19 Numbers Skyrocketing Both Locally and Nationwide
All healthcare agencies continue to call for one thing that will stem the climbing number of new cases, and that is for people to get vaccinated.
The East Central Georgia Health Department has scheduled vaccination clinics every day from Aug. 16 through Aug. 20 at the Richmond County Health Department at 2420 Windsor Spring Rd. Clinics will be 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Schedule a COVID-19 vaccination appointment online at this website.
COVID-19 testing will be from 8 a.m. to noon Aug. 16, 18 and 20 at the health department. Schedule COVID-19 Testing appointment online here.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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