Florida Coronavirus: “This pandemic is our World War II.” How a St. Petersburg Hospital fights to save ICU patients

Surrounded by medical equipment and staff working to keep her alive, she is left breathless as doctors and nurses prepare for a procedure that has become too common in the past 18 months: intubation.

The procedure involves using a thin surgical probe known as a stylus to guide a tube down a woman’s throat, according to Dr. Hudman Hoo, a pulmonologist and medical director of the ICU ward at St. John’s Hospital. Anthony in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The procedure must be precise, but time is of the essence.

A couple of minutes after intubation, there are signs of progress: a woman’s heart rate and vital signs improve.

For the patient, who is 75 years old, there are chances of survival.

However, thousands of other people across the nation are also hospitalized and the prognosis of many is also called into question as they face the debilitating effects of Covid-19.

“We’ve seen an overwhelming number of patients with Covid,” Hoo told CNN. “This is one of the worst waves I’ve ever experienced. Things are as bad with Covid as they’ve ever been in Florida.”

Dr. Warren Abel, a critical care physician at St. Anthony’s said most Covid-19 patients are under 65, with some up to 20 years old. “This pandemic is our World War II,” he told CNN.

Spend a day with me. You will see that we are not well.

Scott Smith, the president of St. Anthony told CNN that the hospital has not only experienced a record number of Covid-19 hospitalizations, but the entire BayCare health care system has experienced the latest increase. Hospitalizations have multiplied tenfold since early July.

Of the facility’s 28 ICU beds, 27 are for Covid-19 patients, he said, and about 85% of Covid-19 patients are not vaccinated.

For the woman who had to be intubated, the hospital claims she received her first dose of vaccine but was infected with Covid-19 before she had a chance to get the second, which would have been a necessary step to obtain complete protection against the virus. .

Hoo said some patients have conveyed confusion about how the vaccine works.

“We’ve had patients come in and ask, ‘Can I get a vaccine now?’ But they don’t understand that it’s something that needs to be preventative, ”Hoo said.

“It’s the unvaccinated patients who mostly end up in the ventilator and actually die from that process,” Abel said. “Almost always before they are intubated, they want to call their loved ones to tell them they love them and say goodbye. And unfortunately, it’s often the last time they talk to them.

“All people who die unvaccinated are preventable deaths. It’s a lot, it’s heartbreaking,” he said.

Sue Rivera, the nurse manager at the ICU ward in St. Louis. Anthony, challenged the thinking of those who believe vaccines are not necessary.

“Spend a day with me. You’ll see we’re not well. I walk down the hallway and almost all of our patients are on their stomachs to help them breathe. And my nurses are tired, we’re doing everything we can.” said Rivera.

He shared that the latest wave changed his mind about vaccinations.

“I’m going to be very transparent. I thought I could squeak about this pandemic without getting vaccinated,” he said. “And when the Delta variant appeared and I saw patients coming into my ICU, getting younger, my younger age, it made me vaccinated just because I’m not ready to say goodbye to my children. I’m ready to be fired. “

Her children, ages 18 and 20, are now vaccinated, she said.