The West Virginia Hospital Association is urging the public to take preventive measures to ease strain on the state's healthcare system and ensure critical care services are not disrupted ahead of an anticipated surge in COVID-19 cases.
"Projections show that for the 2021 holiday season, we will approach the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in West Virginia since the pandemic began," the group said in a Dec. 20 statement. "The vast majority of patients in the ICU and on ventilators are unvaccinated, and the national shortage of monoclonal antibodies has greatly restricted access to an effective treatment option."
Hospitals across West Virginia are also seeing higher numbers of patients with other medical conditions such as flu, heart diseases, cancer and trauma, the statement said.
"This combination has strained the healthcare system, and now after nearly two years, the system is nearing a breaking point as healthcare workers are mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted."
Data on the state's COVID-19 dashboard showed 605 hospitalizations as of Dec. 21, 79 percent of which were among unvaccinated patients. Of those, there were 208 patients in the intensive care unit, most of whom were unvaccinated. A total of 114 were on ventilators, 87 percent of whom were unvaccinated.
In response, the West Virginia Hospital Association is urging residents to help lessen pressure on the healthcare system by getting fully vaccinated and boosted, practicing social distancing at indoor gatherings, and seeking care at urgent care centers or primary care offices for nonemergent conditions, among other measures.
The daily average for new cases in the state was 1,052 on Dec. 21, data from The New York Times shows.