SC hospitals see rise in hospitalizations as omicron becomes dominant COVID strain in state
South Carolina’s largest hospital systems are preparing for a post-holiday coronavirus patient surge, health officials said Wednesday.
Prisma Health, the Medical University of South Carolina and the Lexington Medical Center all reported an increase in COVID-19 patients this week as the omicron variant spreads.
For most of December, the number of COVID-19 inpatients across the system hovered at around 100, Dr. Helmut Albrecht, medical director of the Center of Infectious Diseases Research and Policy for Prisma Health and the University of South Carolina, said in a Wednesday press conference.
In one week, that number doubled to 223, and Albrecht said he expects to see an uptick after New Year’s.
The surge is further complicated by staffing shortages in hospitals across the state.
To maintain appropriate staffing levels, Prisma will now implement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s shortened quarantine guidelines. This means employees who are infected with the virus will be asked to return to work after five days of isolation.
“With this change, strict masking protocols must again be followed whether you’re vaccinated or not,” Albrecht said.
If necessary, Albrecht said Prisma will cut back on some of its services in order to treat COVID-19 patients.
“This may mean that we send people after a heart attack out a day earlier,” he said. “It may mean that you can’t get this operation tomorrow or this X-ray tomorrow but you will get it the day after. But we will always meet the demand.”
Lexington Medical Center reported a marked increase of COVID-19 patients Wednesday.
Through most of December, the hospital cared for 20 to 30 COVID-19 patients per day, spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson said. As of Wednesday, they were caring for 42. The hospital still has available beds and Wilson said they’re not worried about space.
Officials at MUSC also reported an increase of COVID-19 hospitalizations, with more than 20 patients hospitalized in their Charleston location and 20 to 25 patients each at their Pee Dee and Columbia locations.
Pediatric COVID-19-related hospitalizations have also increased, with five children hospitalized. It’s the highest number of child hospitalizations at MUSC since mid-October.
The increase in hospitalizations isn’t raising red flags yet for MUSC.
“Our capacity is still very good,” Dr. Danielle Bowen Scheurer said. “No bottlenecks or concerns there.”
Omicron complicates COVID fight
MUSC officials warned Wednesday that the omicron variant is incredibly contagious, though it’s been reported symptoms are milder than those caused by the delta variant and the original strain.
Less than a month after it was first identified in South Carolina, it has now become the dominant COVID-19 strain, with about 61% of cases sequenced by MUSC’s lab by Dec. 20 coming from that strain, Dr. Julie Hirschhorn said.
In addition to being highly contagious, the omicron variant is also resistant to two popular monoclonal antibody treatments. Because the omicron variant is now considered the most dominant strain, Albrecht said Prisma would discontinue its use of those two treatments.
There is one monoclonal antibody called sotrovimab that is effective in treating omicron, but supply is extremely limited because of a surge in demand. South Carolina was given 468 units of sotrovimab on Dec. 17, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Though Prisma Health was able to secure some units of sotrovimab, Albrecht said there’s not enough to treat every patient who is hospitalized with the virus.
“There’s an algorithm that will determine who will get it first and who will get it later,” he said. Patients who are at a higher risk of dying from the disease and those with more severe symptoms will be prioritized, he added.
MUSC health officials advised South Carolinians to return to the strict COVID-19 prevention practices they’ve used before, including wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding large crowds and washing hands.
“The same behaviors that protected us in the past protect us now,” Dr. Michael Sweat said. “I would strongly encourage people to really double down on being cautious as we work our way through this situation.”
The state health agency reported 12,000 new COVID-19 cases and 56 coronavirus-related deaths Wednesday, a large increase because they paused reporting cases over the holiday break. As of Dec. 28, 783 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
The department reported that 70% of Richland County hospital beds and 88.7% of Lexington County beds were in use.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 2:42 PM.
