NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Dr. Mike Dacey, the chief operating officer and president of Newport News-based Riverside Health System, explained the striking difference inside their hospital facilities lately.
"Medicine has gotten a lot better at treating COVID over the course of the last 18 months. But these patients seem to be sicker than the patients were a year ago," Dacey said.
And this time, they're younger.
"We have some people now, in their 20's, on ventilators. Those people are going to be here for weeks," he said. "We've had very young people, in their 40's, die recently just in the last couple of days or so. So it's very significant."
A release shows about 80% of Riverside COVID-19 patients are not fully vaccinated.
Dacey said as of Friday morning, the health system recorded 103 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. About 40 of them were in intensive care units.
The numbers are comparable to the winter surge in January this year.
13News Now asked Dacey if there was still ample bed space in the hospital system.
"Almost not. Almost not," he said. "So we've stopped doing elective procedures here, like a lot of hospitals because there just wouldn't be space."
Along with that, Dacey mentions that hospital systems — like in Northeast and Midatlantic regions — are facing nursing shortages.
"Shortage of staff and shortage of actual beds are the problem," he said.
To avoid any more problems, he stressed the critical role of COVID-19 vaccinations.
“The fact that we have not yet seen vaccinated people die, at least at Riverside, I think is testament to that. It absolutely protects you on multiple levels," said Dacey.
He also told us that emergency room wait times have drastically increased. He urged people to go only in case of emergency, not for health services like COVID-19 testing.