ST. LOUIS — COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to decrease in the St. Louis area, but the leader of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said even those diminishing numbers could be prevented.
On Wednesday, the task force reported 132 COVID-19 hospitalizations — the lowest since June 28 — 41 confirmed and suspected COVID patients in the ICU and one death. But with the vaccine now accessible in the region, Dr. Alex Garza said all of that is now preventable.
"We really don't want to see any more people's lives upended by this entirely preventable disease," Dr. Alex Garza, the incident commander of the task force, said. "Nothing would really make us happier in the healthcare system than to have no one in our hospitals or ICUs with COVID."
He said the way to prevent yourself and your family from becoming sick is to get the vaccine.
"It's readily available across Missouri to anyone over the age of 12 through pharmacies, public health departments, mass vaccination event — which I know are ramping down — and other providers."
Dr. Garza said the more than 50% of adults that are now fully vaccinated can enjoy this Memorial Day weekend without masks and social distancing while also knowing they are protected against COVID-19.
And for those who are not yet vaccinated, it's not too late to enjoy the next holiday weekend.
"If you start your vaccination now, you can be fully vaccinated and enjoy the protection and benefits of vaccination by Independence Day," Dr. Garza said.
Although active COVID-19 hospitalizations are down, other patients that do not show up in hospital census data are still dealing with the aftermath of COVID-19.
COVID-19 patients who are no longer infectious and people who return to the hospital with long-term COVID-19 symptoms are not included in the task force's data, which only includes active infections.
He said those COVID patients not included in the census often deal with cardiac, neurological or breathing problems that can arise due to severe COVID-19 symptoms.
"When we present the data about hospital census, that really doesn't paint the entire picture of what the impact of COVID is on a healthcare system," Dr. Garza said, "because we have people that have been there for long periods of time even though they are no longer active with COVID."
The following data are the combined figures from the four major health systems (BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health, St. Luke’s Hospital) that are part of the task force, for May 26.
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 18 yesterday to 27 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 26 yesterday to 27 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations decreased – from 143 yesterday to 141 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 141 yesterday to 132 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations remained the same at 28 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs remained the same at 37 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators increased – from 19 yesterday to 23 today.
- The number of COVID deaths remained the same at 1 today.
- The seven-day moving average of COVID deaths remained the same at 2 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 26 patients have been discharged, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 22,419.
- Today, staffed bed hospital capacity is at 84%, an average across our task force hospitals. The ICU’s are at 84% of their total staffed bed capacity.