Upstate healthcare providers describe current COVID surge as “a pandemic of the unvaccinated”

“A pandemic of the unvaccinated” was the phrase used to describe the current COVID situation at a joint media conference Thursday between several upstate healthcare systems, including Bon Secours St. Francis, Prisma Health, AnMed Health, Spartanburg Regional, and Self Regional.

At the press conference, the upstate healthcare providers expressed that the current surge of COVID cases is rising faster than either of the previous surges and is primarily centered around unvaccinated individuals and communities.

“In short, please get vaccinated,” said Dr. Wendall James, the Chief Clinical Officer at Prisma Health in the Upstate. “That is the golden bullet that we all have to avoid this turning into a bigger problem than it already is.”

He continued to express that the vast majority of critically ill COVID patients in his healthcare system are unvaccinated and pointed out that the Pfizer vaccine now has full approval from the FDA.

Of the chief medical officers that provided numbers from their healthcare systems, all said that well over 90 percent of their COVID patients are unvaccinated, and even those that did not provide specific numbers said they had similar situations.

Dr. James reported that of Prisma’s current 436 COVID patients, 410 (94 percent) of those patients are unvaccinated. He continued that 54 of those patients are on ventilators, and 52 (96 percent) of those individuals are unvaccinated.

Dr. James and the other chief medical officers in the press conference stated that all those who were vaccinated and in serious condition had notable underlying health issues that made the COVID virus more dangerous for them than the average person.

“This is not coming into the hospital, spending a day or two with us, then getting better and going home,” said Spartanburg Regional’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Cristopher Lombardozzi. “These people are very, very sick.
Some of them will never go home. Some of them, when they go home, will be devastated because of the illness that they’re having right now. The key here is prevention.”

All five of the chief medical officers from the different upstate healthcare providers on the call pleaded with South Carolinians to get vaccinated and wear masks in public, saying that less than 50 percent of South Carolinians have been fully vaccinated.

“People often ask ‘well if you can get the disease after getting the vaccine, what is the point?’ The point is you don’t die,” said Bon Secours St. Francis Chief Medical Officer Dr. Surabhi Gaur. “The point is you don’t end up being an ICU admission. The point is you don’t leave your child without a parent. The point is you don’t leave your partner without a husband or wife. That’s the reason you get vaccinated.”

You can watch the full press conference below: