During a media call on Jan. 13, Dr. Wendell James, a chief clinical officer at Prisma Health in the Upstate, described the COVID-19 hospitalizations from the omicron form of the virus as “looking like a vertical line.” As of Jan. 13, the Prisma Health system in the Upstate of South Carolina had 628 patients hospitalized Jan. 13. He claims that hospitalizations from the COVID-19 strain of the virus increased by 51% in a week. According to Dr. Divya Ahuja, just 53% of South Carolinians have been properly vaccinated. James requested the public’s cooperation in preventing the virus’s spread by wearing masks, avoiding crowds, getting vaccinations, and cleaning their hands.
Those needing testing at the emergency room should go to one of the DHEC’s public testing locations, he advised. The Prisma system admitted 43 youngsters, three of whom were on ventilators. Those who haven’t been vaccinated have immune systems that aren’t ready to combat the virus, according to Dr. Robin Lacroix, medical director of Prisma Health Children’s Hospital in the Upstate. “We still have a long way to go in terms of vaccinating youngsters,” she said. *Inpatients and observation inpatients with COVID-19 do not include hospitalized COVID patients who have tested negative for the condition.
