The delta variant is causing new COVID-19 infections to soar in the South and the vast majority of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated, including two children who are on ventilators in Arkansas.
Newsweek explains:
On Tuesday, Arkansas’ COVID-19 hospitalizations reached its highest since January 27. The state’s department of health reported that 387 patients are in intensive care and 205 patients are on ventilators. Only three percent of Arkansas’ ICU beds remain available.
CNN reports that just two Arkansas children’s hospitals are treating two dozen children in their ICU’s for COVID-19. “Of the 24 children, seven are in intensive care and two are on ventilators, the hospital said. More than half of them could have been vaccinated — anyone 12 and over is eligible for a free shot — but none of those hospitalized had done so.”
Dr. Rick Barr, chief clinical officer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, told CNN that many of the infected children’s parents didn’t realize that COVID-19 was such a threat to minors:
“They’re shocked because the messaging out there has been that kids don’t really get sick with Covid, and we didn’t see serious illnesses, except for rare instances, with the previous variants. So parents are both shocked and now they understand the value of vaccines. In fact, they’re encouraging other parents to get their kids vaccinated.”
Dr. Michael Bolding, of Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, made a similar observation about the unvaccinated patients he’s treated, saying “The regret, and remorse, on their face — and fear — I can’t show you, I can’t describe.” He added “but that look on a patient’s face, I promise you, would be more motivating than anything to go ahead and get your vaccine if you have not already.”
The situation in Arkansas reflects a broader trend in the South. From NBC News:
While cases are rising everywhere because of higher transmission levels of the delta variant, the steepest increases have been in the South and Southeast, where Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina are dealing with the biggest outbreaks in the nation.
All five of those states have rates of full vaccinations below the United States’ 49.2 percent, and two of them — Mississippi and Louisiana — are in the bottom five of the entire country.
There’s some room for optimism. According to Axios, vaccine adoption is on the rise in Arkansas: “The state saw its highest single-day number of doses since May 21 (when it had 12,521 doses) on Friday [the 23rd], with 14,294. Over the weekend, numbers continued to be high, according to data from the Arkansas Department of Health.”
NBC News flags a similar trend in Missouri:
Over the first three weeks of July, residents in Greene County, where Springfield is the county seat, have already received more first-dose vaccinations than they did through all of June, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Neighboring Christian County, another Covid hot spot, has outstripped its June numbers by nearly 30 percent.
In addition, CNBC reports that in Mississippi, “the state administered almost 27,000 first doses over the seven days through Sunday, a 42% jump from the prior week.”
WKYT reveals that Kentucky is also seeing an uptick in vaccine adoption: “More than 30,000 people were vaccinated in Kentucky last week, which is 10,000 more than the week before.”
