‘Surge of the unvaccinated’: Charlotte doctors urge COVID shots with delta cases rising

Charlotte doctors are renewing their push for people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as new hospitalization data underscore how dangerous the highly contagious delta variant is for people who are not yet protected.

At intensive care units across Novant Health hospitals, 92% of coronavirus patients are unvaccinated, said Dr. David Priest, Novant’s chief safety, quality and epidemiology officer. And 94% of coronavirus patients on ventilators are unvaccinated, Priest said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

“This remains a COVID surge of the unvaccinated spilling into the vulnerable vaccinated,” Priest said.

Unvaccinated coronavirus patients requiring hospital-level care are skewing far younger at this juncture of the coronavirus pandemic: The average age is 49. Priest said these individuals have fewer underlying health conditions that would have amplified their risk of contracting COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the average age of vaccinated people who end up hospitalized for coronavirus-related complications is 78, Priest said. This population, many of whom have other medical problems, was vaccinated earlier in the pandemic and may have waning immunity.

Put another way, less than 1% of vaccinated people end up in Novant hospitals with severe infections and die of COVID-19, Priest said.

At Atrium Health, meanwhile, 96% of the COVID-19 patients on ventilators are unvaccinated, the hospital tweeted Tuesday afternoon. That equates to 207 out of 215 patients currently on ventilators.

The number of patients requiring a ventilator rose by 29% over the past week, Atrium said.

“Same everywhere in the US,” Dr. David Callaway, director of operations and disaster medicine, tweeted Tuesday morning as he referenced last’s week data. “Get your #COVIDVaccination.”

More reasons for vaccination

People should still get vaccinated even if they have already been infected with COVID-19, Priest emphasized.

People who only have natural immunity from previous infections, rather than antibodies generated by COVID-19 vaccines, are more likely to contract the virus again. That is based on studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Priest said.

The degree of people’s natural immunity could also be impeded by their age, chronic illnesses, medications and the viral load they experienced with a COVID-19 infection.

Vaccines give “you a more even and predictable immune response — and an incredible amount of protections to someone who’s had COVID before,” Priest said.

COVID vaccination rates

In Mecklenburg County, 57% of residents are at least partially vaccinated as of Tuesday morning, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. That compares to 54% of all North Carolinians.

Priest said vaccination rates climbed in August, after dips in June and July. But more vaccines need to be administered as the delta variant rips through communities and prompts soaring caseloads, Priest said.

At Novant, about 87% of hospitals employees are at least partially vaccinated or have been approved for a religious or medical exemption, Priest said. All Novant employees, vendors and students must get their first shot by Sept. 15.

Atrium is requiring all workers to get vaccinated by Oct. 31. Atrium spokeswoman Kevin McCarthy told the Observer Tuesday it was premature to disclose vaccination and exemption rates so far.

“We continue to share information with our teammates and the community about the importance of vaccination and new developments, such as the recent FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine,” McCarthy said in a statement.

Hospital morale at Novant

Novant employees are grappling with verbal assaults as the pandemic grows increasingly contentious and politicized, Priest said.

“There’s certainly frustration when patients come in and are still even hostile to the diagnosis of COVID, even when they have COVID,” Priest said. “They say, ‘Well I don’t have that,’ or, ‘You’re lying.’”

Yet Priest said healthcare workers, including those who have been redirected to patient-facing roles amid this latest surge, are resilient.

It’s important to remember, Priest said, that workers view medicine as a higher calling, not a job.

“If it was a job, they all would have left,” Priest said of ICU nurses and other healthcare staff strained under 12-hour shifts. “It’s something bigger than that. That’s really inspiring.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 1:16 PM.