COLUMBIA, Tenn. — Maury Regional Health (MRH) continues to see alarming trends in hospitalized COVID patients, according to Chief Medical Officer Martin Chaney, M.D.
“With the delta variant, we are seeing patients whose illness is more severe and advances more rapidly than with previous strains of the virus,” said Dr. Chaney. “Patients are also younger and largely unvaccinated. Currently, 95% of the COVID patients in our care are unvaccinated.”
As of Friday morning, the health system was treating 123 inpatients, 33 of whom are in critical care. Additional inpatients are awaiting test results. In the initial wave of the pandemic, MRH reached a peak of 102.
CEO Alan Watson added, “Today, 55% of our total inpatients at Maury Regional Medical Center are being treated for COVID. Our urgent care facilities, emergency departments and monoclonal antibody treatment centers are experiencing this surge as well. While we are remarkably busy, we also want to emphasize that patients should not delay necessary care. Doing so could result in becoming severely ill.”
MRH continues to encourage the community to get vaccinated. More than 5.59 billion doses of COVID vaccines have been administered across 184 countries with few adverse outcomes. While all vaccines may have break-through cases, current COVID vaccines have proven extremely successful in reducing hospitalizations and deaths.
“Our health care team has shown remarkable resilience, but they are being pushed to the brink,” said Dr. Chaney. “They are working long hours and extra shifts, sacrificing time with their own families to care for others. This is physically and emotionally exhausting and, sadly, it didn’t have to be this way. We need the community to do their part in slowing this surge by getting vaccinated and wearing a mask in public indoor spaces.”
Maury Regional Health has administered more than 32,000 vaccinations to date and is seeing an increase in vaccinations at its mobile unit and vaccination clinic, For more information about vaccination, please visit MauryRegional.com/COVIDvaccine. Vaccination is also offered at county health departments and retail pharmacies throughout the region.