In the latest coronavirus numbers released by public health officials, San Luis Obispo County has reported 155 new cases since Tuesday. No new deaths have been reported in the county.
old, patrick. you see him there. spoke with him through a window in the covid icu there. when we go into hospitals, andrea, we ask them to put us in touch with patients that would be willing to speak, he was eager to speak with us to say he regretted not getting the vaccine. he wanted people to understand how serious the virus is. 24 years old. shy of his 25th birthday. andrea, just a few days ago, we sadly heard this weekend he passed away, and we spoke with his nurse, one of the nurses that was treating him. take a listen. the day you interviewed him, we hoped he would downgrade from icu level care to the med surge floor. his oxygen levels never stayed at a level we could make that move. we were no longer able to help sustain patrick. and the family made the decision to make him be comfort care.
okay, you don t care that you are tired, you ve made a difference. but with this, they still work just as hard, harder, and it really hurts when you don t see a difference. reporter: just when they thought that they were through the worst of the pandemic, it has come roaring back. patients younger, sicker, harder to treat. the family, you know, it is hard for them to realize you mean this is the end, do you really mean it is the end. it is our community, it is people that we know or we know people they are related to. so that is what is really hard on the nurses is the emotional part too. reporter: in the covid icu here in hazard, every bed taken by those suffering from severe cases of covid-19. every patient intubated except for one. what is this virus doing to places like hazard r, kentucky? it is destroying us. i mean, everybody is getting it. everybody is getting sick,
think much about covid until he got it. don t mess around. it s not a joke. it s not fun and games. i ve been here so long. i want to go home but i can t go home because i can t breathe. this is not a game at all. you feel like you re going to die. reporter: in the hospital 19 days now, the unvaccinated 42-year-old isn t sure how he picked up the virus. he toughed it out at home for eight days before being admitted. how serious is covid? it s bad to the bone. i recommend everybody wash their hands and do what they got to do. stay home. stay social distanced. it s bad. trust me. it s bad. reporter: until you had it, did you think it was bad? no. reporter: why? i didn t pay no attention. i do now. get your shots. reporter: wanda holmes manages the nursing staff in the covid icu at the regional health care s largest facility in hazard, kentucky. the nurse for 30 yearse. the job never tougher.
reporter: can wanda copmbs ms the nursing staff and the job is never tougher. it has been very, very hard. and i get emotional because it is our community. i see nurses work very hard every day. but you can usually see a difference. so you work hard and you see a difference and that is okay. you don t care that you are tired. you ve made a difference. they still work just as hard or harder and it really hurts when you don t see a difference. reporter: just when they thought they were through the worst of the pandemic, it has come roaring back. patients younger, sicker, harder to treat. the family, it is hard for them to realize, oh, you mean this is the end, do you really mean this the end? it is our community, people we know, we know people they are related to. so that is what is really hard on the nurses is the emotional part too. reporter: in the covid icu