state and governor for offering up the nagds national guard as a resource. they will be coming into our cleveland area to help offer access for testing. right now, because we have so many covid cases, there isn t a rapid test to be found. and the pcr tests that are offered generally at testing sites, the wait period is approximately seven days. so the national guard will be helping us by setting up the testing site. i do want to acknowledge we are so grateful for their help but these are also folks with families. and we know they re coming to us, um, during this holiday time at costs to their own personal lives so we are very grateful for their service, but also want to appreciate the sacrifice they are making here. what kind of patients are you seeing in your hospital who have covid? are these mostly unvaccinated. we continue to see most of our patients, particularly the patients in the icus are unvaccinated. i think what felt a little bit perhaps different for me this time havi
so grateful for their help but these are also folks with families. and we know they re coming to us, um, during this holiday time at costs to their own personal lives so we are very grateful for their service, but also want to appreciate the sacrifice they are making here. what kind of patients are you seeing in your hospital who have covid? are these mostly unvaccinated? we continue to see most of our patients, particularly the patients in the icus are unvaccinated. i think what felt a little bit perhaps different for me this time having taken care of covid patients since the beginning of the pandemic is i do feel like we are seeing more younger folks. there is nothing more heartbreaking than walking into a covid patient s room, and seeing pictures of their young children. so, young parents. second group that i think is really struggling right now are those, um, most vulnerable among us. so, i think of our cancer patients, our transplant patients. those folks who don t have normal
of the icu patients, covid-19 patients that we have in our icus are unvaccinated. we currently have a number of hospitals where 50% of their total patient population are covid patients. and their entire icu is filled with covid patients. the low vaccination rates in idaho really are adding to what is kind of a perfect storm with increased number of non-covid patients, record numbers. record numbers of covid patients and hospitals at capacity with staffing challenges, as well. right, tony. i hear you, and what i hear, i think, part of the subtext is that the hospital system is doing the best that they can under extraordinary circumstances. what is it that you are hearing from medical care providers? what is it that they are going through as they weather this crisis? i can t believe that they are
this is the best tool we have to fight the pandemic. no question about it. we re seeing in the hospitals greater than 90% of the people admitted in the icus are unvaccinated. there is no question the vaccine is the best option we have. it is also the cheapest option we have. it is the most effective and there is no reason people should be avoiding the vaccine. there is not a single patient we ve had to intubate because of a complication from the vaccine. the people we are intubating, people on life support and dying are the ones not vaccinated. how difficult do you think it is to fight against what we are calling the politics here but it really isn t, right? it is mis and disinformation. the idea that mask mandates are the problem and let the parents choose and all that. especially in your state. what do you think of that? you re absolutely right. it is not politics and it shouldn t be. it is misinformation. there are a lot of reasons for that misinformation, social media and other
steve hahn on the other day former commissioner of the fda. he said it best. this is the best tool we have to fight the pandemic. no question about it. we re seeing in the hospitals greater than 90% of the people admitted in the icus are unvaccinated. there is no question the vaccine is the best option we have. it is also the cheapest option we have. it is the most effective and there is no reason people should be avoiding the vaccine. there is not a single patient we ve had to intubate because of a complication from the vaccine. the people we are intubating, people on life support and dying are the ones not vaccinated. how difficult do you think it is to fight against what we are calling the politics here but it really isn t right? it is mis and disinformation. the idea that mask mandates are the problem and let the parents choose and all that. especially in your state. what do you think of that? you re absolutely right. it is not politics and it shouldn t be. it is misinformation