May 14, 2024
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COVID cases still rising at area hospitals

Silver Cross releases 5-minute video on the current state of COVID-19

By Denise M. Baran-Unland

Vicky Alleman (left) and Leslie Obrochta draw syringes of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, at Will County Health Department in Joliet, Ill. COVID cases are once again on the rise in area hospitals, but the majority of the hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. (Geoff Stellfox - gstellfox@shawmedia.com/Geoff Stellfox - gstellfox@shawmedia.com)

COVID cases at local hospitals jumped shortly before Thanksiving and keep rising.

Morris Hospital had jumped to 22 COVID patients on Nov. 30, according to a Dec. 3 Herald-News story. By Thursday, Morris Hospital had 35. Only 5 were vaccinated, according to the hospital’s COVID dashboard. Four patients were on ventilators, all unvaccinated.

Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox had 89 COVID patients on Thursday. Seventeen were in the intensive care unit and 13 were on a ventilator, according to the Silver Cross dashboard. COVID patients numbered 40s and low 50s in November and in the low teens in July, said Debra Robbins, director of community relations and marketing at Silver Cross, said in the Dec. 3 Herald-News story.

Also on Thursday, AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center was treating 40 COVID-positive patients. AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook was treating 22.

By contrast, St. Joe’s had 34 cases on Nov. 24 and 37 cases on Dec. 2. AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook was treating five patients Nov. 24 and 11 patients on Dec. 2.

Edward Hospital had 53 COVID inpatients on Friday morning. Of those, 35 weren’t vaccinated and four were vaccinated/breakthrough, according to Keith Hartenberger, system director, public relations at Edward-Elmhurst Health.

On Nov. 1, Edward had 19 COVID-19 patients, which had risen to 35 COVID-19 patients by Dec. 2. Only five of those patients were vaccinated, Hartenberger said in the Dec. 3 Herald-News story.

In response, to the rising cases, Dr. Atul Gupta shared the following points in a 5-minute video: the current state of COVID-19 in the community, the importance of booster vaccines, information about the omicron variant and tips for staying safe over the holidays.

Dr. Atul Gupta

Dr. Atul Gupta (Photo provided)

“One thing I would like to note, though, is that the vast majority of the patients who are admitted with COVID are not vaccinated,” Gupta said in the video. “We are seeing very few patients who have been vaccinated getting admitted with COVID. And the majority of those patients are not getting very sick from COVID, even if they are in the hospital.”

Gupta is chairman of infection control for Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.

Watch the video on the Silver Cross Hospital YouTube page.