Children among COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Children are among the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Jacksonville, according to doctors and nurses.

At Baptist Health, 230 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, 46 more than on Friday. Of the COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Monday, 42 were in the intensive care unit and nearly 99% were unvaccinated.

At UF Health Jacksonville, 117 people were hospitalized on Monday, 40 more than on Friday. Of the COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Monday, 35 were in intensive care.

“Some patients died over the weekend,” said Chad Neilsen, director of accreditation and infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville. “Unfortunately, we will have to expect that to progress as well. “

News4Jax has also learned that a number of new patients in hospitals are children. Hospital staff couldn’t give exact numbers, but Dr Mobeen Rathore, a pediatric infectious disease specialist with UF Health and Baptist Health systems, said they were filling beds with adult patients.

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“We are seeing more cases of COVID-19 – and children too, just like we are seeing in adults,” Rathore said. “Fortunately, you know, as everyone knows, children don’t often get that sick, but we are now seeing an increase in the number of children admitted to hospital also with COVID-19.”

Since children under 12 cannot be vaccinated against COVID-19, Rathore suggests people be especially careful not to expose them to people who have not been vaccinated. He calls it cocooning.

“You should demand that everyone around them in their home be vaccinated. You know, if visitors come to your house, they need to be vaccinated, ”said Rathore. “You basically have to wrap these kids up with everyone who has been vaccinated so that they – because they can’t get the vaccine – are protected. “

This might become more of a problem when school starts because teachers are not required to get vaccinated

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“Every place is full. All of these services are extensive. I think the staff are stressed out about this, ”said Rathore. “You know, we all come to work to do our best, but I think when things explode as they are right now, everyone is affected by it.”

At UF Health Jacksonville, News4Jax spoke with RNs Sabrina Oetterer and Lauren Schiller, both of whom work in the COVID-19 wing. They said their work over the past three weeks had become overwhelming.

“It’s very busy, that’s the word I’ll use because we still see patients change with the snap of a finger. They can be stable and suddenly they are not. And right now we’re seeing younger patients. It used to be a lot of our patients aged 60 and over, and now, unfortunately, this virus is hitting the younger ones. And it can happen in the blink of an eye. They just change, ”Schiller said. “There are people we take to intensive care every day. There are people dying on our floor.

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Neilsen said he doesn’t see that changing anytime soon.

“Unfortunately, I think it will get worse. We are seeing cases flowing into our hospital at a faster rate. We’re going to have to start considering delaying elective surgeries and procedures. We’re going to run out of staff soon due to staff outings due to COVID or just general burnout, ”Neilsen said. “I think it will get worse here in the next few days.”

Frontline workers said it was getting extremely difficult.

“Even within a week, we have seen it change insanely. It’s so busy. You don’t have time to really think about how you are feeling, ”Oetterer said. “You just work from patient to patient, keeping everyone stable, trying to give them the best care you can give until they can get home and be safe.”

“All of them, if you ask them while they’re in that hospital bed right now, they’re going to say they would love to be vaccinated,” Schiller said. “So it is extremely important that you can get vaccinated.

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Oetterer and Schiller have both been vaccinated, but they know many of their colleagues haven’t. They said it was important.

News4Jax asked Neilsen about the politics behind it all.

“The leaders of the local government have been very supportive of our hospitals, very attentive to our needs, but it is undeniable that there are somehow assets and disadvantages in terms of immunization on the basis of political positions,” said Neilsen. “So I’m here to say whatever the politics, whatever your beliefs, in the hospital we really need people to start getting vaccinated, start taking masking and social distancing seriously again because people flock to our hospital and they are not vaccinated. “

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry plans to address this issue and urge vaccination on Wednesday. He spoke with local health officials.

News4Jax asked Curry’s office on Monday if they were considering reinstating the mask’s tenure and was told no. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Monday he did not believe in warrants.