A local doctor has hinted at unvaccinated persons aged 20 to 40 years old accounting for a huge chunk of hospital admissions due to COVID-19.
According to Dr. Jocelyn Juarez who works at the North Central Baptist Hospital, admissions due to COVID-19 is starting to overwhelm their healthcare facility even as she identified patients within the age bracket of 20 to 40 years old accounted for the most number of patients staying longer in medical confinement and requiring a higher level of oxygen.
“These younger patients are needing a lot more oxygen. It is more difficult to get them off of oxygen” said Dr. Juarez, who claims to be treating more people in their 20s, 30s, and 40’s.
“It is younger patients and patients that don’t have risk factors that I would think of,” she added.
On top of the persons falling within the age bracket she mentioned, Dr. Juarez said they are also getting more pregnant women.
“I think the Delta variant is one of those variants that is becoming stronger making it easier for people to get this virus,” the doctor lamented.
But what makes her alarmed is that most of their patients are those who have yet to get shots of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“My patients that I am seeing that are unvaccinated will get severe symptoms where someone in the household who had the vaccine might get it, but it is mild symptoms,” noted Juarez as she made an appeal for the public to seriously consider vaccination.
“I really think this is the only way to try to bring the pandemic to a stop. I am still hopeful. I want to be hopeful that things will change. I am hopeful that people will think about getting the vaccine and things will go in a different direction, unfortunately, the way I see things right now it doesn’t look good,” she quipped.
This came as the University Health announced the re-imposition of visitation restriction starting Wednesday.
In a press release, University Health officials expressed apprehensions over the “climbing and alarming rate” of hospitalizations. It is also for this reason that visits will be limited to those “deemed necessary to the patient’s care.” Only parents of NICU infants; individuals providing support for patients with disabilities; support for critically ill patients; and support for women giving birth are allowed to enter the premises of their healthcare facilities.
Other local hospital systems are also maintaining policies limiting the number of visitors at their facilities. CHRISTUS Santa Rosa is allowing one essential support person for “most patients” and two older caregivers for those at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.
