COVID hospitalizations rising in NYC

As the delta variant drives a spike in coronavirus cases nationwide, mostly among the unvaccinated, hospitals in our area are dealing with an uptick in patients.

Mount Sinai Hospital is one of many hospitals across the nation seeing a spike in COVID patients, primarily a result of the delta variant of the coronavirus. However, what the president of the hospital says is so troubling is that most of the cases could have been prevented.

"In our recent analyses of our local health system samples, the delta variant has completely taken over the hospitalized covid patient population," said Dr. David Reich, President of Mount Sinai Hospital.

While concerns of the delta variant are mounting across the country, hospitals in our area are seeing an uptick in covid patients. Still, Dr. Reich doesn’t think New Yorkers should be too alarmed just yet.

"I want to put things in perspective. On April 9, 2020 there were over 2,000 patients with Covid in the hospital in the Mount Sinai health system and as of today we are at 101," said Dr. Reich.

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There are more grim situations in other states. In Florida, the federal government has sent hundreds of ventilators and other medical equipment to help with the spike in cases. In Louisiana, elective and non-urgent procedures have been put on hold as the virus rages across the state. Officials there expect the number of cases to peak in the coming weeks.

In New York City the numbers aren’t too staggering, but officials are watching them closely for any movement. As of Wednesday, there are at least 64 hospitalizations citywide. In the state, there are more than 1,300 hospitalizations reported right now, compared to just 339 exactly a month ago. At Mount Sinai, 74% of COVID patients in the ICU are unvaccinated.

"We have daily discussions about how to manage as the numbers increase. We have learned lessons from the work we did a year and a half ago about how to organize that, how to turn rooms of the hospital into facilities appropriate for a patient with an infectious disease," said Dr. Reich.

He also wants to stress that most COVID patients at Mount Sinai Hospital are not in the ICU. Still, in order to keep fighting the virus, he advises New Yorkers to stay extra vigilant to get the vaccine.