Prisma Health nears previous COVID-19 hospitalization peak

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Less people seem to be dying from the now dominant, fast-spreading omicron variant, but increased cases has meant increased hospitalizations, which is burdening health systems locally and statewide.

Prisma Health officials gave an update to media Thursday with a note that its 438 system-wide COVID-19 patients is already nearing the current previous peak that reached into the 500s. On Dec. 1, there were 85 COVID-19 patients across its hospitals in Sumter, the Midlands and Upstate.

Dr. Steve Shelton, incident commander for Prisma Health in the Midlands, said 80% of those patients are unvaccinated.

He said omicron is the leading variant in South Carolina now and that while it appears to be less deadly, it is very contagious and appears more resistant to many previous treatments. For example, he said, the monoclonal antibody treatment that has proven the most effective against omicron is in short supply.

Yesterday, according to Dr. Caughman Taylor, medical director for Children's Hospital-Midlands, there were 37 pediatric COVID-19 cases in their four hospitals, one short of the record. About half were eligible to be vaccinated. None were.

The surge in hospitalizations, albeit less that require ventilators or an ICU room, overwhelms hospital staff, many of whom are out themselves with the virus, when combined with a recent increase in flu cases and the regular caseload of other injuries or illnesses that require emergency attention, Shelton said. Those are all then still compounded by an influx of people going to the emergency room simply to get a COVID-19 test.