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Claire White, 27, an intensive care unit nurse at Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, used to treat one or two intensive care patients a day. Now, as the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps through the state, its caseload has grown to three Covid patients per day, many of whom are on ventilators and in need of round-the-clock assistance.
While it was unusual to see patients under the age of 60 in intensive care last year, this summer White has regularly treated patients in their 40s and 50s at Rogers Hospital. She feels overwhelmed and exhausted, not least because she knows this wave might not have happened if more people had been vaccinated.
“Last year most of us were just exhausted, because it was depressing and tragic,” White said. “Now it’s still depressing and tragic, but it could have been avoided.”
Covid-19 has made a strong comeback in Arkansas, causing a record number of hospitalizations and a dangerously low number of intensive care beds in recent weeks. The state reported its largest single-day increase in hospitalizations for Covid-19 on Monday, with 103 new admissions and just eight intensive care beds available.
This is the biggest resurgence of Covid cases since January, with the state having more than 2,000 cases per day. Arkansas also has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country – only 38% of its population has been fully vaccinated. The state reports a seven-day average of 19 Covid-related deaths, up 64% from two weeks ago.
As in other southern states where Covid-19 is resurfacing, the vaccination rate in Arkansas is finally on the rise: the seven-day daily average of first vaccines has more than doubled since early July.
But a modest increase in vaccinations may not be enough to slow the seemingly endless spread, state officials say.
“Who helps the assistants? “
Stephen Pennington, 34, president of the Arkansas Nurses Association, said many of his constituents felt similar to White.
“We are seeing a growing number of concerns from nurses about their own mental health,” said Pennington, a registered nurse who works in Little Rock. “Who’s helping the assistants? Because that’s where we’re at right now.”
Pennington hears from nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and social workers who say they don’t know how long they can continue working with Covid patients.
“In the last two months we’ve seen nurses say, ‘I’m done with the profession. I’m going to do something else,'” he said. “It hurts us, especially as a rural state, where we need as many nurses as possible.”
The surge in patient numbers has compounded staff shortages in the state, Pennington said, adding that he had heard many people say their hospitals could open more beds if they had the staff to do so. safely. Nurses are also getting sick, but not from Covid-19 – from mental and physical exhaustion, he said.
“Here in Arkansas, we have the beds,” he said. “We don’t have the staff to fill the beds.”
White said she had witnessed the high turnover rate firsthand.
“Whenever I hear about someone leaving, I can’t really blame them. It’s just a tough place to work,” she said. “I know I never wanted to quit my job until now, but I don’t want to because I still have a job to do.”
Delta is different
Dr Gerry Jones, chief medical officer at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary, a large hospital in Little Rock, said the new wave is mainly due to cases of the delta variant in unvaccinated people.
“If we had had a larger percentage of our population that had been vaccinated, I don’t know if I could say that it would not have happened,” he said, “but it very well could not have been. as dramatic as it is. “
He said he was grateful that the demand for vaccination had increased. By early July, when Covid cases started to rise again, only about 34% of the state’s population had been fully vaccinated.
“We have seen a tremendous surge in demand for the vaccine over the past three weeks and have really seen our numbers increase,” he said.
Yet hospitalizations are increasing, with “no evidence” that they are slowing down, said Dr Jennifer Dillaha, chief medical officer and medical director of immunization for the state’s health department.
Dillaha is concerned that residents of the state are underestimating the latest variant. “People are familiar with what has happened in the past with the previous variants,” she said. The delta variant is more dangerous – other variants were less transmissible. His department works to make sure people have accurate information, know about monoclonal antibody treatments, and understand the importance of wearing masks and getting vaccinated. The effort is not without challenges.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, signed a law in April banning government entities from imposing mask warrants. Last week, a judge temporarily barred the state from enforcing the law and, as the number of cases increased in the state, Hutchinson said he regretted signing it.
Jones said masking, along with vaccination and social distancing, will be the most effective way to quell the latest outbreak in Arkansas and ease the burden on healthcare workers.
He praised the resilience of state health workers while acknowledging that the current wave presents a mental challenge.
“These people spent months climbing a mountain hoping that once at the top they would see a beautiful valley below,” he said. “And actually, when they got to the top of the mountain, they saw more mountains. And that made it difficult for them.”
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