ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A St. Louis hospital is receiving patients infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant from a Southwest Missouri Hospital that's nearly at capacity.
St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force leader Doctor Alex Garza confirms to KMOX, four patients from Cox Health in Springfield have been transferred to BJC in St. Louis. Garza says other patients have been sent to Kansas City.
As the COVID-19 Delta variant surges in Southwest Missouri, Dr. Garza says people infected with the variant are two times more likely to be hospitalized "And it's affecting the younger population much more severely than the Alpha variant," first identified in the United Kingdom.
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Garza says if you're unvaccinated, your at risk of contracting the Delta variant, even if you've already had Covid.
Garza tells KMOX if you were vaccinated with the J and J vaccine, "there is talk about needing a booster shot, you may have seen some of literature about mixing and matching going on over in Europe and the U.K, there's nothing definitive that's come out right now." Some U.S doctors have suggested getting a booster dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
Garza adds, so called breakthrough cases are expected. "The vaccine can still provide protection, meaning you may become infected, be asymptomatic, or have very mild symptoms, which clinical studies never looked at." However, "your potential to transmit the virus to another person is reduced even lower."
Garza says most breakthrough cases have other contributing factors like the elderly, those with significant diseases, more chronic conditions, and people who could not build up an immune response.
Cox Health system president Steven Edwards took to twitter, saying "98-103 Covid inpatients in house. If you are hesitant to get a Covid vaccine, and don’t know who to trust, try to eliminate all the noise on both sides, and ask the one person who won’t judge you, the one you entrust the most with your healthcare. Ask your personal doctor."
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