The Metro’s top doctors said they’re seeing a familiar and unwelcome trend as COVID-19 hospitalizations start to soar.Health leaders from University of Nebraska Medical Center said most of their COVID patients are unvaccinated.Now they’re pleading for you to get your shot to stop a potential surge.One of the doctors at Nebraska Medicine said that in the last month, things have taken a turn.Now they’re admitting more younger patients as the delta variant spreads.“Unfortunately, you know, the, the trend of seeing these cases go up is incredibly disheartening,” UNMC Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Dr. Angela Hewlett said.As the delta variant makes its way through the metro, it’s sending more and more people to the hospital.Dr. Angela Hewlett with Nebraska Medicine said at the end of June, they had three patients with COVID.Right now, the Nebraska Medicine COVID unit is full, which can hold 25 patients.They’re working to open a second unit to be able to take more patients.Although she doesn’t expect things to get as bad as last fall, things aren’t looking good either.“That being said our vaccination rate is still not high enough to protect us from having a surge and that potentially could cause a lot of hospitalizations and also potentially deaths as well,” Hewlett said.Vaccinations are key here.Dr. Hewlett said most patients right now are unvaccinated and based on what they’re hearing from those people, it has a lot to do with misinformation on social media.“One of our ICU doctors that said that if all of these individuals could have a time machine, they all wish that they could go back and get vaccinated,” Hewlett said.She said even if you’ve already had COVID-19, it doesn’t mean you’re fully protected.“Natural immunity does persist for a period of time, likely several months, but then it does tend to wane over time, and you may still be susceptible,” Hewlett said.Even if you don’t get extremely sick from COVID, Dr. Hewlett wants people to know that even mild symptoms can bring long-term problems that you don’t want.So, it’s best to get vaccinated.“It’s not just about whether you live or die. It’s also about those complications that can really disrupt the things in your life that you’d really want to do so. There are people that are going on to, you know, to have some disability, you know for months and months,” Hewlett said.
OMAHA, Neb. —
The Metro’s top doctors said they’re seeing a familiar and unwelcome trend as COVID-19 hospitalizations start to soar.
Health leaders from University of Nebraska Medical Center said most of their COVID patients are unvaccinated.
Now they’re pleading for you to get your shot to stop a potential surge.
One of the doctors at Nebraska Medicine said that in the last month, things have taken a turn.
Now they’re admitting more younger patients as the delta variant spreads.
“Unfortunately, you know, the, the trend of seeing these cases go up is incredibly disheartening,” UNMC Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Dr. Angela Hewlett said.
As the delta variant makes its way through the metro, it’s sending more and more people to the hospital.
Dr. Angela Hewlett with Nebraska Medicine said at the end of June, they had three patients with COVID.
Right now, the Nebraska Medicine COVID unit is full, which can hold 25 patients.
They’re working to open a second unit to be able to take more patients.
Although she doesn’t expect things to get as bad as last fall, things aren’t looking good either.
“That being said our vaccination rate is still not high enough to protect us from having a surge and that potentially could cause a lot of hospitalizations and also potentially deaths as well,” Hewlett said.
Vaccinations are key here.
Dr. Hewlett said most patients right now are unvaccinated and based on what they’re hearing from those people, it has a lot to do with misinformation on social media.
“One of our ICU doctors that said that if all of these individuals could have a time machine, they all wish that they could go back and get vaccinated,” Hewlett said.
She said even if you’ve already had COVID-19, it doesn’t mean you’re fully protected.
“Natural immunity does persist for a period of time, likely several months, but then it does tend to wane over time, and you may still be susceptible,” Hewlett said.
Even if you don’t get extremely sick from COVID, Dr. Hewlett wants people to know that even mild symptoms can bring long-term problems that you don’t want.
So, it’s best to get vaccinated.
“It’s not just about whether you live or die. It’s also about those complications that can really disrupt the things in your life that you’d really want to do so. There are people that are going on to, you know, to have some disability, you know for months and months,” Hewlett said.