Baystate Noble sees year’s largest spike in COVID-19 cases

Dec. 8, 2021 | Peter Currier
peter@thewestfieldnewsgroup.com

WESTFIELD – An official from Baystate Health said Dec. 2 that the surge in the COVID-19 infection rate in the Northeast has brought with it another sharp increase in hospitalizations.

Dr. Sundeep Shukla, the head of the Emergency Department at Baystate Noble Hospital, said that his hospital, as well as most hospitals across Massachusetts, had seen a 30 percent increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the course of the preceding week.

Shukla said that of those who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 at Baystate Noble, approximately 70 to 80 percent have been people who have not yet been vaccinated against the virus. Though recent reports of the omicron variant have shown some early evidence that the vaccines may be less effective against the new variant, Shukla said that the delta variant is still the dominant form in the U.S. today.

“It is still important for people to get vaccinated while delta remains the dominant variant,” said Shukla.

In Westfield, the COVID-19 infection rate is reaching numbers not seen since the peak surge last winter, and the vaccination rate is lagging far behind that of Massachusetts as a whole, with just 56 percent of Westfield residents being fully vaccinated. Those figures mirror what is being reported across Hampden County, which has the lowest vaccination rate among the state’s 14 counties.

As this new wave of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations is unfolding, the medical field in general is seeing a shortage of workers, which is largely blamed on fatigue and frustration caused by the course of the pandemic thus far. While Baystate Noble has seen a similar situation, Shukla said that Baystate Health leadership has been able to hire additional staff to prevent any disruptions to care.

“We have, with the help of our CEO nursing and medical leadership, been able to hire additional staff to offset disruption and give people the care they want,” said Shukla, “What is alarming is that people are leaving the medical profession altogether.”

Though the raw infection rate is rising sharply, Westfield and the surrounding communities have not seen the same numbers of COVID-19 deaths as last winter’s surge. Though the vaccines may have waned in effectiveness in preventing infection over time, they are still considered to be highly effective at preventing severe illness and death among those who do get breakthrough cases.

In addition to the vaccines, Shukla said that treatment options that were not available last year have been very effective at keeping patients alive and stable. He said that some patients have been able to receive monoclonal antibodies, a treatment derived from the blood plasma of people previously infected with COVID-19. The treatment, Shukla said, has been about 80 percent effective in preventing hospitalization and death among those to whom it was administered.

Though the treatments have been effective and the death rate has been close to zero for weeks now, Shukla said that Baystate Health is still preparing for the new winter surge to become worse. This time, however, they are displaying a level of optimism that was not present this time last year.

“This is different this time, because we have more knowledge of COVID and more people are vaccinated than there were before,” said Shukla.

Shukla pointed out that the danger of a new COVID-19 surge is not only present for those who become infected and require care, but also for the population as a whole, especially people who require healthcare for other reasons. In many cases, people have been delaying their own necessary healthcare for a number of reasons. In some cases, people with chronic or acute health situations have intentionally delayed care out of fear of being in a hospital or doctor’s office during a COVID-19 surge. He said it can also be difficult for some people to receive care if they have COVID-like symptoms from another condition or disease.

Should the hospitalization rate grow out of control from the sheer number of people becoming infected, a lack of available hospital beds could negatively impact people who need hospitalization for non-COVID reasons.

To mitigate the current surge, Shukla gave the same advice that has been echoed for nearly two years now: social distance where necessary and possible, practice basic hygiene, wear masks, and get vaccinated if you can.

“Everyone is tired of wearing masks, I understand, but this is not the time to let our guard down,” said Shukla.

He strongly recommended that parents get their children as young as 5 years of age vaccinated. For children aged 5-11 years old, the vaccine is a lower dose than the version given to teens and adults. Vaccines have not yet been approved for children under 5 years of age.

In addition to the COVID-19 vaccines, he recommends that everybody get their flu shot this year. Though the flu infection rate has dropped dramatically over the last two years due to COVID-19 mitigation measures, it can still be a dangerous virus and cause hospitalization.

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