Per standard public health protocols for infectious disease response, SCRHD epidemiologists are working with TDH and are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance to contact and monitor anyone who may have been exposed. “The next few weeks are going to be brutal because in absolute numbers, there are so many people being infected that it will spill over into ICUs,” Jha said.īrett Kelman is the health care reporter for The Tennessean.The Sullivan County Regional Health Department (SCRHD) received confirmation from the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) of the county’s first case of COVID-19 on March 10, 2020. Prabhat Jha of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. The sheer numbers of people infected could prove overwhelming to fragile health systems, said Dr. And weeks or months of misery still lie ahead for patients and hospitals – even if the drop-off comes to pass. Why would the surge end so soon? The omicron variant has proven so wildly contagious that it may already be running out of people to infect.Īt the same time, experts warn that much is uncertain about how the next phase of the pandemic might unfold. The model also predicts that the true number of daily infections – which includes people who were never tested – already peaked at 6 million on Jan. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that scientists are seeing signals the omicron wave is peaking in Britain and is about to do the same in the United States.Ī widely-cited virus model from the University of Washington predicts the number of reported cases in the U.S. HOSPITAL CRISIS: In Tennessee hospitals, omicron sparks the worst staffing shortage of the pandemic “But it does not help us, particularly, for January 2022. “I think it bodes well for 2022 at large, barring the arrival of some new variant that takes us backward,” Threlkeld said this week. Stephen Threlkeld, medical director of the infectious disease program at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, said this week the fast-spreading omicron wave could potentially leave Tennessee in a stronger position because many unvaccinated residents may be left with a resistance to the virus after a mild omicron infection.īut it remains to be seen if hospitals, which are suffering the most severe staffing crisis of the pandemic, will be overwhelmed before the current surge subsides. The count of COVID-19 patients in Tennessee hospitals has more than doubled since Christmas.ĭr. More recent data from the CDC puts the current total at about 2,700 patients.ĭoctors say omicron patients are generally less ill, and some are primarily admitted for other ailments, but rising admissions remain an immediate concern. The new data also reveals about 2,400 Tennesseans were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday, which is about 62% of the hospitalization peak in the delta surge. Of the tests results that are known to state officials, 39% were positive.
The state averaged more than 13,500 new infections per day last week - the most ever - while still undercounting due to unreported at-home tests and long wait times for testing. The new virus data comes from the first weekly release by the Tennessee Department of Health, which no longer publishes virus statistics daily.
Nearly 4 in 10 coronavirus tests reported in Tennessee last week were positive, and hospitals continue to fill with COVID-19 patients, as the omicron variant spreads with blinding speed, according to state virus data released Wednesday.īut a chance at relief hangs on the horizon. The virus is spreading so fast some experts predict the omicron wave may soon peak and fizzle, much as it did in South Africa and appears to be doing in the United Kingdom.
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