INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — COVID-19 hospitalizations in Indiana have skyrocketed in the past month. Now, health care workers are sounding the alarm.
Intensive Care Physician Doctor Graham Carlos from Eskenazi Health told News 8’s Camila Fernandez that it’s nerve-wracking. There were 1,221 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Nov. 5. One month later, that number has more than doubled to 2,496.
“We’re certainly seeing another rise (and) a surge in cases here in Central Indiana,” Carlos said.
Carlos says the number of COVID-19 patients at Eskenazi hospital has recently doubled. He says the majority of these patients are unvaccinated.
“There are still a lot of unvaccinated people in our population, and they’re the ones that are coming down with this super contagious delta virus that’s causing them to get sick enough to need to be in the hospital,” Carlos said.
Carlos says COVID-19 patients that come in — especially when they need intensive care — are typically there for a week or more, and it impacts the other patients who might need those beds.
“So, as the COVID numbers go up, it definitely carries over and has impacts on other patients with other conditions,” he said.
Carlos is encouraging the community to get vaccinated and support health care workers.
“It’s not too late to get the vaccine. It’s still effective against the new strains, so you don’t have to worry if you delayed,” Carlos said. “It’s going to be a tough season, I think, for all of us in health care, so we need your support — the community.”
The Indiana State Department of Health said on Thursday that 80% of Indiana’s ICU beds were full. As of Monday, that figure sits at 76%.
Community Health Network says they are at or near capacity partially due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, as well as the end-of-year surge in elective surgeries.
They say more than 90% of their COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.
IU Health says its hospital census is historically high with both COVID and non-COVID patients. However, they do have enough staff to serve patients. In fact, other hospitals have transferred patients to them.
