Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center’s chief medical officer said it looks like September will be the hospital’s worst month for virus fatalities.
Southwest’s previous high number of deaths was 14 in January. But Dr. Kevin Richardson said the large number of patients on ventilators now, who have a survival rate of only 25%, make September likely to break that record. Richardson said Friday that 10 people have died in the past six days. At least 11 of the hospital’s patients have died this month.
“These are largely preventable,” Richardson told the McComb Rotary Club on Wednesday. He noted several times that vaccination is the best way to avoid hospitalization and serious symptoms of the infection.
“You know the story,” he said. “It’s the unvaccinated that make up most of the hospitalizations.”
Richardson added that many of the vaccinated patients who have required hospital care since the shots became available are over 65 — further evidence that younger people who get vaccinated and then get infected rarely get sick enough to require hospitalization.
Richardson said the delta variant of COVID-19 is responsible for a huge increase in cases in the past two months. But another one, the mu variant, appears to have broken out in Brazil and is expected to spread.
Evidence continues to grow that the existing vaccines help prevent serious illness, including from the delta variant. Richardson said no single measure, including vaccination, can provide a complete defense against the virus. But he said multiple efforts, such as the shots combined with a mask and social distancing, can increase a person’s protection.
“There is a science behind what is good and what works,” he added.
He said steroid treatments have helped patients who are on a ventilator. But steroids given to less seriously ill patients may hurt them.
He spoke highly of monoclonal antibody therapy, which is given to patients after an infection is confirmed and can reduce the chance of needing hospital care by 60% to 80%.
Richardson added that the virus has killed at least six pregnant women in the state in the past three weeks. The vaccine is approved for pregnant women and also those who are nursing newborns.
He believes that eventually a third booster shot will be approved for everyone. The Food and Drug Administration currently has approved a booster only for people 65 and older and others who have underlying health problems.
“I’m not going to run get a booster right now,” he said. “I really believe I have enough protection, and we at the hospital got our shots very early.”
He added that unvaccinated people who have recovered from the virus “have very good immunity.” But he believes they should still get the shots so they have “super protection.”
Discussing the vaccination rate of Southwest employees, which a few weeks ago was 40%, Richardson estimated that 90% of local doctors have been vaccinated, and most front-line health care providers also have had the shots.
Those who have not been vaccinated have offered several different reasons.
“Some people are scared,” he said. “Some people were waiting for FDA approval. Some have questions.
“I wish we were 100% at the hospital. It’s a challenge.”
He said health care workers are tired of how the virus has changed their jobs and are ready “for things to get back to the way we were.” He’s confident that will happen, but said no one knows when that will be.
