Nevada frontline workers say they ‘relive 2020’ as new infections peak in 5 months

With coronavirus infections on the rise in the United States, hospitals across the country are trying to meet the needs of thousands of patients who test positive for COVID-19 and need medical attention.

One state that has seen a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is Nevada, where the number of cases rose nearly 200% in the past month, the state’s highest level since February , according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. .

“Basically we’re reliving 2020 in 2021,” Dr. Angie Honsberg, medical director of the intensive care unit at University Medical Center, told ABC News. “Unfortunately, we again have a very high number of COVID patients. We’ve had a hiatus for the past two and a half months and sadly now it feels like we’re back in January in February when almost half of our intensive care was critically ill patients with insufficiency. respiratory COVID. “

Since mid-June, the average number of patients admitted to hospital each day with COVID-19 in Nevada has tripled, according to the CDC. This is the largest number of patients seeking care in more than five months.

Although hospitalization levels in Nevada and nationwide remain well below their January peak, on Wednesday 38 states and territories report a 10% or more increase in hospital admissions over the past week , with nearly 22,000 hospital patients across the country. , said the CDC.

In light of the state’s recent viral resurgence, Nevada has joined a growing list of states on Chicago’s travel advisory list, which will require travelers to quarantine themselves for 10 days or submit a negative COVID-19 test result.

The majority of infections in the state, according to the CDC, appear to come from Clark County, home to Las Vegas, where cases have been on the rise since June. In the past week, hospital admissions there have increased by more than 16%.

“Sadly, we are reliving a lot of what we went through last year, the last few weeks,” UMC infectious disease physician Dr. Luis Medina-Garcia told ABC News. “As businesses have reopened and there is more tourist traffic in our city, this increased exposure has resulted in new cases of COVID-19 almost exclusively in the unvaccinated population. “

So, with the increase in cases, last week the Southern Nevada Health District also announced that it would recommend that unvaccinated and vaccinated people wear masks in crowded indoor public places, “where they may be in. contact with other people who are not fully vaccinated ”.

Health experts say the likely driving force behind the significant increase in cases across the country has been the highly infectious delta variant, which is now estimated at more than 83% of all new cases.

While it’s still unclear whether the delta variant is potentially more dangerous, this strain of the virus is more effective at transmitting the disease, and Honsberg said it appears more virulent, with patients getting sicker faster.

“The current group of patients appear to be getting sick faster than the patients we saw in the previous COVID outbreak and we are also seeing, for the most part, a group of younger patients,” Honsberg said.

Some of the patients have very severe pneumonia, Honsberg added.

A similar message is conveyed by Robin Ringler, chief nurse at the UMC’s medical ICU, who said the patients she sees in the ICU are very sick, many have difficulty breathing and on ventilators.

In fact, she said, some of these patients are so sick “that doctors are talking about doing a tracheostomy right now, and that will keep them on a ventilator for long periods of time because they can’t breathe on their own.” .

Ringer’s team is now anticipating more COVID-19 intensive care admissions, with an increasing number of COVID patients appearing in emergency rooms.

“Over the past two weeks we have had a real increase in COVID infections in hospital. Our COVID numbers have increased so much. They’ve almost, I think they’ve quadrupled from two weeks ago, ”Ringler said. “The number of patients seeking treatment is increasing every week. “

The increases are a disheartening development, Ringler said, when vaccines were introduced and cases started to decline, his team thought maybe they were finally out of the woods.

Almost all of these patients, 97%, are unvaccinated, according to the White House COVID-19 task force.

Only 43% of Nevada residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, “which is a growing concern for us, as our data shows that about 85% of our COVID-19 patients do not have a history of COVID-19. vaccination, ”added Alma Angeles, director of intensive care services at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas.

“We have had many patients who have told us they want to be vaccinated. Unfortunately, it is too late when they reach us,” Dr. Luis Medina-Garcia, infectious disease physician at the hospital, told ABC News. ‘UMC. . “The death toll from this disease is unbearable. It is indescribable the loss of life, health and consequences that we have had to endure. It’s just sad to see people get sick for no good reason.