HSHS, Memorial Health see COVID-19 admissions surge as cold weather drives people indoors

Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients at HSHS St. John’s Hospital have risen to levels last seen during the latest surge in late summer and early fall.

The increase in inpatients with COVID-19 at the 422-bed Springfield hospital and the 14 other Hospital Sisters Health System hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin has coincided with climbing numbers of COVID-19-positive cases since early November in central Illinois and the rest of the state.

“We don’t know if it will continue,” Dr. Marc Shelton, HSHS senior vice president and chief clinical officer, told The State Journal-Register.

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With fall’s cold weather and the end-of-the-year holiday season bringing more people indoors and at gatherings where COVID-19 can be easily spread, Shelton urged the public to wear masks in crowds, get vaccinated against COVID-19 and seek widely available booster shots.

“We’ve seen very few people who’ve been boosted who have to be admitted,” said Shelton, a cardiologist.

Numbers of new COVID-19 cases have continued to rise among Sangamon County residents since early last month. And though new reports of deaths haven’t risen locally, officials note that deaths often lag initial diagnoses by weeks, and in some cases, months.

Statewide, however, the average daily number of COVID-19 deaths has been on the rise since late November. Tuesday’s report of 78 new deaths from the Illinois Department of Public Health was the highest one-day total since Feb. 11, when 102 deaths were reported.

Almost 26,700 people in Illinois have died from COVID-19, IDPH says, while 58.8% of the population in Sangamon County and statewide is fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

The Sangamon County Department of Public Health reported two additional COVID-19 deaths of county residents so far this week, bringing total fatalities during the pandemic to 295. Both people who died had received no vaccine.

A Sangamon County woman in her 60s who tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 23 died Sunday. Dying the same day was a Sangamon County man in his 60s who tested positive on Nov. 26, according to the county health department.

In Morgan County, two new COVID-19 deaths were reported involving a woman in her 80s who died Oct. 6 at a long-term care facility and a man in his 50s who died Nov. 21 in a hospital. Those deaths brought total COVID-19-related fatalities among Morgan County residents to 125.

It’s unclear how the new omicron variant of COVID-19, the first case of which was detected in Chicago, will affect positive diagnoses, hospitalizations, medical complications or deaths, Shelton said.

But statistics demonstrate the impact of the latest COVID-19 surge.

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At Memorial Health, which operates Springfield Memorial Hospital in Springfield and four other hospitals in central Illinois, spokeswoman Angie Muhs said Tuesday: “With COVID-19 cases on the rise in our region, ICU bed capacity has been challenging over the last few weeks. As of this morning, Dec. 7, Memorial Health has 78 COVID-19 patients in our five hospitals. On Nov. 3, that number was 22.”

Muhs added: “In recent weeks, the vast majority of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 have been unvaccinated. Slightly less than one-third of hospitalized patients have been at least partially vaccinated. However, it’s important to note that many of those patients have had other health conditions that make them more at risk for severe disease from contracting COVID-19.”

And throughout Hospital Sisters Health System, 182 inpatients were being treated for COVID-19-related complications as of Monday, with 55 of them fully vaccinated and 127 patients — or seven out of every 10 — unvaccinated.

The health system classifies unvaccinated people as those who have received no vaccine, or in the case of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech versions, receiving only one dose of the recommended two-dose regimen.

Of the 15 COVID-19 patients in HSHS hospitals on ventilators, three were vaccinated and 12 were unvaccinated. And of the 37 COVID-19 patients in HSHS intensive-care units, 84%, or 31, were unvaccinated.

St. John’s has 26 to 27 COVID-19 inpatients at any one time, Shelton said.

Those numbers weren’t close to the all-time high numbers of patients HSHS and St. John’s cared for in November and December of 2020.

During that period, the system was treating as many as 311 COVID-19 inpatients at one time, and the inpatient total at St. John’s was between 80 and 90, Shelton said.

That was a time when COVID-19 vaccines were not widely available, as they are now, he said.

The current numbers are more in line with late summer of this year. HSHS was treating 137 inpatients with COVID-19 on Aug. 17, and 91% were unvaccinated. Among the inpatients were 31 at St. John's.

It’s been a challenge to care for some unvaccinated patients with COVID-19 who continue to doubt the pandemic is real and instead focus on conspiracy theories, St. John’s registered nurse Ashley Rodrick said.

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Rodrick, 35, who has worked as a St. John’s RN the past six months and as a nursing assistant at the hospital in the two years before that, said the situation can be frustrating for nurses.

“It’s a little mind-bending, I’ll be honest with you,” she said.

“They say they don’t have COVID, and they sometimes can be rude,” she said.

Some tell nurses they won’t get vaccinated later, if they survive.

Though Rodrick said she tried to tell one patient that there was no need to fear COVID-19 vaccines, which has been proven more than 90% effective at preventing severe illness and death, the patient told her, “I don’t want it messing with my DNA.”

Rodrick said she witnessed one COVID-19 patient argue with a doctor over whether St. John’s medical equipment confirming the patient’s reduced blood-oxygen level related to COVID-19 was accurate.

The patient asked the doctor, “How do you know the machine’s not lying?” according to Rodrick.

Some unvaccinated patients have refused antiviral medicines such as remdesivir, which are accepted treatments to help COVID-19 patients recover, she said.

The patients viewed the treatment as a conspiracy by the medical establishment, Rodrick said. “They really want to believe there’s someone to blame,” she said.

Remdesivir was used to treat former President Donald Trump when he came down with COVID-19.

The condition of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients at St. John’s tends to be less stable than the condition of vaccinated patients, Rodrick said. As a result, these patients stay longer and are more likely to die, she said.

Indeed, HSHS says the average length of hospital stay is five days for vaccinated patients and 15 days for unvaccinated patients.

Some unvaccinated patients, especially those with severe complications and those at risk of going on ventilators, have been more likely to regret their decision to remain unvaccinated and more vocal about getting a COVID-19 shot later, Rodrick said.

The vaccinated patients who contract “breakthrough” cases of COVID-19 are more likely to have other chronic health conditions or weakened immune systems, she said.

St. John’s nurses and other staff members have seen more death during the pandemic than they’ve encountered in recent memory, she said. The political divisions over COVID-19 create additional stress for everyone involved, she said.

“We’re very thankful to take care of all of our patients,” Rodrick said. “We have nurses of all political leanings, and we will treat you no matter what.”

Rodrick’s request to the public is to get vaccinated, and if people need to be hospitalized, have patience with caregivers who are weathering the emotional pain of the long pandemic.

“We can remember the faces of all of the patients we’ve lost,” she said.

Contact Dean Olsen: dolsen@gannett.com; (217) 836-1068; twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield Illinois hospitals see COVID-19 admissions surge again