Posted on 09/03/2021 12:08:18 PM PDT by lightman
During earlier surges, most COVID-19 patients at Penn State Health were at least 65 and had other illnesses that made them vulnerable.
But that was before arrival of the more contagious delta variant, and before many people, including most seniors and other highly vulnerable people, were protected by COVID-19 vaccine.
“Most everyone we see in the ICU at this point is unvaccinated,” Dr. Fahad Khalid, the chief of hospital medicine at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, said on Friday.
About 43 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 at the medical center as of Friday morning, Khalid said.
Their average age is about 53, with some in their 20s and 30s, he said. One, in their 20s, was on a breathing ventilator as of Friday morning. Two others, in their 30s, were attached to ECMO machines, an extreme treatment that takes over the work of the heart and lungs.
Moreover, about half of the COVID-19 patients at the medical center are needing intensive care, compared to 10-20% during earlier surges, Khalid said. They also have fewer pre-existing illnesses than in the past.
“In the past, it was a lot of diabetes and obesity, but a lot of our younger patients are pretty healthy,” he said. “What we’re seeing is that these patients come in and get sick pretty quickly, requiring ICU level of care and requiring a lot of resources for us to take care of them, and then they are in intensive care for a long period of time.”
Khalid noted Penn State Health is seeing some “breakthrough” infections in people who are vaccinated. However, they are typically patients who test positive after being hospitalized for something different, such as a hip fracture. They typically don’t develop severe COVID-19 or need intensive care, he said.
He said most of the COVID-19 patients are infected with the delta strain, which is significantly more contagious than earlier strains.
Moreover, Dr. Catharine Paules, an infectious diseases specialist at the medical center, said there is new research from Europe that suggests the delta strain might make people sicker.
Khalid and Paules were among three Penn State Health doctors who gave an online briefing on Friday on the status of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania and in the Harrisburg region.
Dr. Peter Dillon, the chief clinical offer, provided some positive news, saying the latest models suggest Pennsylvania’s surge will peak in about three weeks and at a level well below that of the winter surge, which nearly filled hospitals and culminated in about 200 deaths per day in early January.
Pennsylvania as of Thursday was averaging about 24 deaths per day, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University.
Many doctors say Pennsylvania’s relatively high rate of vaccination should help us avoid the levels of infections and hospitalizations seen during the winter peak.
However, Paules warned against being “lulled into a false sense of security by the vaccination rates in our region. They are not high enough to prevent a surge. We’ve seen this in places like Israel that are highly vaccinated.”
She said the Labor Day holiday has potential to trigger spikes.
“I would encourage people, if you’re going to gather, to keep it outdoors,” she said.
The doctors were asked about the impact of COVID-19 among children. Nationally, children are accounting for a significantly larger portion of positive cases than in the past, and the number of hospitalized children has surged to the highest point in the pandemic.
No vaccine had been approved for children under 12, leaving children as the largest unprotected group.
As of Friday morning, three children were hospitalized with COVID-19 within Penn State Health, a spokeswoman said.
Paules said the impact on children shouldn’t be measured in terms of hospitalizations or deaths. Rather, some children who come down with COVID-19 develop long-lasting problems. “I think these long-term complications will not be trivial,” she said.
Because of the present high level of community spread of COVID-19, Paules said she is advising all of her patients, including children, to wear face masks while in crowded spaces, and noted she and her children wear masks in those situations.
Yea, another Propaganda piece.
Since the CDC has already admitted that the only test they are asking the hospitals to use, the PCR test, can’t even tell the difference between the common every-day flu and COVID-19, you know they are lying whenever they state something like this.
The point was to prove that the “98% unvaccinated” blabbing is wrong.
Deaths are about 500 higher than they were last year this time, when none were vaccinated.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/#graph-deaths-daily
And if the average age of those 43 hospitalized is 53, “with some in their 20s and 30s,” how old are the rest of those 43? Is one 102-year-old skewing the number up to 53, or several in their 80s? “Some” is fairly meaningless in this context.
ping
Article states that there are a total of 144 fully vaccinated deaths of covid since the start of the pandemic in MA. Thats 144 deaths out of 18,272 covid deaths in Massachusetts.
As always the article is heavy on implied and biased assertions while light on facts and complete statistics...
The friend died, his wife died, along with her mother and father. None of them were offered treatment. Central Florida also.
What this made me think, maybe some of the serious cases are genetic. Who gets taken out and who doesn’t. The young 32 year had sleep apnea, but looked healthy.
“Deaths are about 500 higher than they were last year this time, when none were vaccinated.”
No, what you mean are REPORTED deaths are 500 higher. I don’t believe any numbers at all since they keep finding “mistakes” in reporting.
If a medical center makes a statement and everyone hears it, does anyone actually believe it?
I like using the reported numbers against the machine that reports them. Think about it, if we are running 500 more deaths per day than last year, what was the point of the vaccination campaign? The virus has escaped the vaccine, it’s that simple.
I understand what you are saying and I agree....BUT the thing is I simply don’t believe the “death from and/or with China Virus whether those numbers are from last year or this year.
If you go in and let them, they will kill you vaccinated or not. Ventilator pushers.
....with almost none vaccinated
Ha! Is this per the CDC’s within 14 day of shots definition of ‘vax’d?
I like using the reported numbers against the machine that reports them. Think about it, if we are running 500 more deaths per day than last year, what was the point of the vaccination campaign? The virus has escaped the vaccine, it’s that simple.
Exactly right.
And, this will NEVER be reported, by the lying MSM :-(
Just more fear (and “vax”) pushing.
Wealthy hospitals rake in U.S. disaster aid for COVID-19 costs
Clap for carers!
If I had to wager...
Another thought, I thought the story was the Delta was more contagious but less virulent?
Interesting thought.
My experience has been that people addicted to drugs, those with strong drug addictions with powerful street drugs (Meth, Heroin, Crack) Do Not seek medical help for anything.
They avoid hospitals and rather die as their addictions are so powerful they know when being treated in the Hospital they can not continue using their drug(s).
Prescription drug addicts are little different.
They will seek treatment, they will be admitted into a hospital, but when withdrawal begins and they realize they can’t get or use their usual medication, they leave against medical advice.
I have seen this play out many times.
It's more like 99.9% survival rate because the CDC has released information this week that double the people have had WuFlu due to testing of 1.4 million people for antibodies which they should've been doing all along.
And just where in the hell did the flu go? It's a rhetorical question we know the answer, flu cases were reported as Covid.
Also the death numbers are inflated because dying for any reason with a positive PCR Covid test has been admitted to be 80% of the death toll. So you can divide the 600,000 Americans dead by five and a equals 120 5000 which is less than some flu seasons.
Americans in the entire world have been lied to and abused by these evil scum and they need to be put on trail and hung if found guilty.
Re: “ As of Friday morning, three children were hospitalized with COVID-19 within Penn State Health, a spokeswoman said.
Paules said the impact on children shouldn’t be measured in terms of hospitalizations or deaths. Rather, some children who come down with COVID-19 develop long-lasting problems. “I think these long-term complications will not be trivial,” she said.”
I speak with parents of children who tested positive every day. They are rarely sick more than a day or two. In my state during 17 months of pandemic about 80 something children died from Covid. More than likely other medical conditions were involved. In one year/12 mos in our state 388 children died from drowning. You’ll never hear MSM or brainwashed medical establishment ever provide perspective. Why more conservative Governor’s or politicians don’t try to present perspective either is beyond me.
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