Upstate health care workers are begging people to get vaccinated as hospitalizations continue to rise.The Spartanburg Regional Health Care System is feeling the strain, giving an update along with South Carolina DHEC Wednesday morning.DHEC says the COVID-19 testing site at the Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership on N. Church Street is back open and did 1,500 tests in just two days. As of Wednesday, Spartanburg Regional Health Care System Chief Medical Officer Dr. Chris Lombardozzi said 225 people throughout the Spartanburg Regional Health Care System were hospitalized with COVID-19 and 213 are unvaccinated.“The beds are full,” Lombardozzi said. “The ICUs are full, and we are struggling.”Lombardozzi says there are 52 COVID-19 patients in ICUs throughout the health care system and only two are vaccinated.He says the disruption from the rising number of COVID-19 patients is putting every patient in jeopardy. “If you’ve been to one of our emergency departments lately, you may have had to have waited for hours,” he said. “Hours on end, because we just can’t keep up.”Of the 30 people on ventilators, Lombardozzi says just one person is vaccinated.“The folks who are in the hospital now are much younger than they were in the winter,” Lombardozzi said.On Wednesday morning, he says he visited one of the COVID-19 units.“While I was there, three people, three people in an hour were coding,” he said. “Coding means they’re dying. In one hour.”Doctors point to the spread of misinformation holding people back from getting vaccinated.“The reason it will not go away is because people are not getting their shots,” he said. With the Pfizer vaccine now approved by the Food and Drug Administration, DHEC officials emphasize, no corners were cut in the expedited process. “It’s gone through all the rigorous checks and balances that anything that’s approved by the FDA goes through,” SCDHEC Director of Public Health Dr. Brannon Traxler said.Traxler explains, the FDA made the approval of the vaccine possible by bringing in more resources and staff to conduct research and reviews, as well as making the vaccine approval a top priority. “If you’re on the fence about vaccination, take this as just another piece of evidence that these are safe and effective,” she said.Lombardozzi says the way out of the pandemic is by getting vaccinated.“This is a preventable problem,” he said. “Preventable. When people like us went into medicine, we went into medicine for a reason. We went into medicine to help people. We didn’t go into medicine to watch people die from things that are preventable.” DHEC is holding a vaccine clinic at Dorman High School Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. for anyone who is eligible. The Pfizer vaccine will be offered.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. —
Upstate health care workers are begging people to get vaccinated as hospitalizations continue to rise.
The Spartanburg Regional Health Care System is feeling the strain, giving an update along with South Carolina DHEC Wednesday morning.
DHEC says the COVID-19 testing site at the Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership on N. Church Street is back open and did 1,500 tests in just two days.
As of Wednesday, Spartanburg Regional Health Care System Chief Medical Officer Dr. Chris Lombardozzi said 225 people throughout the Spartanburg Regional Health Care System were hospitalized with COVID-19 and 213 are unvaccinated.
“The beds are full,” Lombardozzi said. “The ICUs are full, and we are struggling.”
Lombardozzi says there are 52 COVID-19 patients in ICUs throughout the health care system and only two are vaccinated.
He says the disruption from the rising number of COVID-19 patients is putting every patient in jeopardy.
“If you’ve been to one of our emergency departments lately, you may have had to have waited for hours,” he said. “Hours on end, because we just can’t keep up.”
Of the 30 people on ventilators, Lombardozzi says just one person is vaccinated.
“The folks who are in the hospital now are much younger than they were in the winter,” Lombardozzi said.
On Wednesday morning, he says he visited one of the COVID-19 units.
“While I was there, three people, three people in an hour were coding,” he said. “Coding means they’re dying. In one hour.”
Doctors point to the spread of misinformation holding people back from getting vaccinated.
“The reason it will not go away is because people are not getting their shots,” he said.
With the Pfizer vaccine now approved by the Food and Drug Administration, DHEC officials emphasize, no corners were cut in the expedited process.
“It’s gone through all the rigorous checks and balances that anything that’s approved by the FDA goes through,” SCDHEC Director of Public Health Dr. Brannon Traxler said.
Traxler explains, the FDA made the approval of the vaccine possible by bringing in more resources and staff to conduct research and reviews, as well as making the vaccine approval a top priority.
“If you’re on the fence about vaccination, take this as just another piece of evidence that these are safe and effective,” she said.
Lombardozzi says the way out of the pandemic is by getting vaccinated.
“This is a preventable problem,” he said. “Preventable. When people like us went into medicine, we went into medicine for a reason. We went into medicine to help people. We didn’t go into medicine to watch people die from things that are preventable.”
DHEC is holding a vaccine clinic at Dorman High School Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. for anyone who is eligible. The Pfizer vaccine will be offered.