Bellingham hospital sees omicron’s ‘severity is very similar to what delta was causing’
Though studies have reported that the more transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 is less severe than the delta variant, PeaceHealth Northwest Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sudhakar Karlapudi said the effects are just as severe once patients are admitted to the hospital.
“There is research that says that omicron could be causing less severe illness in people,” Karlapudi told The Bellingham Herald last week. “But the fact of what we are experiencing here is if you get hospitalized because of COVID, then the disease severity is very similar to what delta was causing. ...
“People are staying the same long length of stays, because they are taking that much time to get better. And those whose disease is severe enough to require the ICU level of care, they are also staying in the ICU for a similar length of time as delta.”
As of the latest SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants in Washington State report released Wednesday, Jan. 5, Whatcom County has seen 28 confirmed omicron variant cases so far, increasing from two cases a week earlier. But those numbers are likely significantly higher, as data from the report usually is a few weeks behind due to the time it takes to sequence and only a fraction of all positive COVID tests are sequenced for variants.
According to a release from the Whatcom County Health Department Friday, Jan. 7, omicron is believed to be the reason for Whatcom County’s record-setting increases in cases since mid-December.
Due to the hospital’s testing, Karlapudi said it is difficult to differentiate between the omicron and delta variants.
“Based on the way the disease has increased in cases we have seen, just following the epidemiology of cases, I think it would be reasonably safe to say that omicron is here,” Karlapudi told The Herald. “But it would be difficult to say which of those that are admitted to the hospital have omicron or don’t have omicron. But I think the spike we are seeing, we can reasonably say is because of omicron, because the delta spike was on its way down and done with.”
And, it really doesn’t matter which patients have omicron and which have delta, as the hospital follows the National Institute of Health guidelines for treating COVID, Karlapudi said, and those guidelines for treatment of omicron are similar to treating delta.
Once a person is hospitalized with omicron or is moved to the Intensive Care Unit with omicron, it is every bit as serious as those suffering from the delta variant, Karlapudi said.
But the thing that makes omicron so different and so challenging, Karlapudi said, is the “sheer numbers” it is infecting with its higher transmission rates.
And more cases mean more hospitalizations.
The hospital three times last week broke its pandemic record for treating COVID-related patients with 45 on Monday, 47 Wednesday and 48 on Thursday.
And Karlapudi said the hospital’s modeling shows it hasn’t yet reached its peak.
On Monday, the hospital announced in a release that it would be reviewing all scheduled surgical procedures on a case-by-case basis to determine which could be postponed to make sure the hospital had adequate resources to treat the increasing COVID cases.
The hospital also announced that it had increased its COVID unit space, as it has planned to do for months if and when it was needed, to accommodate more patients with COVID-related symptoms.
“I think a lot of the plans we have put in place ... omicron might make us implement them,” Karlapudi told The Herald. “I think omicron is challenging every other system. It will challenge any institution that depends on people to do their work, because it has affected so many people in our community so quickly, and that is why we are seeing schools being closed and other establishments being severely limited because of the staffing challenge that omicron is going to cause.”
The best way to stop the surge, Karlapudi said, is help from the community, including getting vaccinated and/or boosted, wearing high-quality face masks, maintaining social distance, avoiding crowds and isolating and getting tested if you have COVID symptoms.
The health department reported that between Dec. 5 and Jan. 1, 85.9% of the COVID-related patients admitted to the hospital had not been vaccinated.
“It is essential that our hospital maintain the capacity and resources to provide a high level of care to all patients who need it, whether they are coming to us with COVID-19, a heart attack or a traumatic injury,” Karlapudi said in Monday’s release. “We need the community’s help to ensure we can continue to do this by protecting themselves and each other against COVID.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
