Hospital overwhelmed; CRH urges you to protect yourself, others with vaccines

Columbus Regional Health is urging people to take precautions against COVID-19, saying the hospital is being overwhelmed with the highest numbers of patients it has ever seen, with between a quarter and a third of those affected by the virus.

The hospital reports that COVID-19 patients are largely unvaccinated, making up about 80 percent of those patients. They are putting a serious strain on vital resources, such as space, equipment and staffing. All from what is largely a preventable and avoidable disease.

To help protect yourself and others, the hospital urges you to get vaccinated, to get a booster shot and to wear a mask in public.

Dr. Lee Kiser, a hospitalist at CRH, talks in a social media post video about the current situation:

Kiser stresses that the vaccines are safe and urges you to seek out medical advice from your doctor or trusted sources, not rumors or social media.

Health system officials are also stressing that it is never OK to put off care or needed medical attention. Kiser suspects that the current high patient numbers are due in part from care that was put off over the past two years.

Despite the strain on the system, the hospital says staff will be there to care for you. They say that if you have a true life-threatening emergency, you should call 911 or head to the Emergency Department.

You can get more information at www.crh.org/virus