TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – Earlier this week, two more counties in our area reached the red COVID-19 advisory level.
Parke and Knox Counties join Clay and Vermillion Counties in the highest COVID-19 advisory level.
Knox County Health Officer Dr. Alan Stewart said that he’s seeing a staggering amount of people in hospitals.
“The end of June we only had one case in six days at one stretch,” Stewart said. “Now, we had 153 new cases in one day.”
In a statement from Good Samaritan Hospital’s Chief Operating Officer Adam Thacker, he said the hospital is operating at near full capacity.
“We are operating near full capacity,” Thacker said. “We requiring hourly management of resources both from bed availability and staffing availability.”
Union Health and Terre Haute Regional Hospital released a joint statement urging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
In the statement, Union Health’s Chief Medical Officer John Bolinger said that the hospital is admitting many Delta variant patients.
“The COVID cases we are admitting now are presumably the Delta variant, Bolinger said. “Currently about 90% of the COVID patients requiring admission at Union Hospital are unvaccinated.”
Terre Haute Regional Hospital has also seen an increase of COVID-19 patients.
“This increase causes intensive care units to reach capacity at certain times,” Ajay Deshpande, MD, pulmonologist and medical director of respiratory therapy at Terre Haute Regional Hospital said.
Bolinger stated that it is essential for people to get the COVID-19 vaccination.
“The only thing, at this point, that’s going to reduce the number of COVID infections is having more people vaccinated. Nothing else will work to the same extent,” Bolinger said.
