31-year-old man recovering in Missouri hospital after being given a 20% chance of survival; eschewed vaccine, citing ‘strong conservative family’ - MarketWatch

OSAGE BEACH, Mo.

(AP) — Daryl Barker was passionately against a COVID-19 vaccination, and so were his relatives.

It’s a scenario playing out time and again at Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach, where 22 people died from the virus in the first 23 days of July.

The Associated Press was given access inside Lake Regional, where just two months ago, no one was hospitalized with the virus.

Doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital in the heart of the Lake of the Ozarks region are now dealing with an onslaught of COVID-19 patients — some of them struggling to stay alive.

Around Osage Beach, a town of about 5,000 people that straddles two counties, state data shows only 38.6% of Camden County residents and 26.7% in Miller County have started the process.

Barker got so sick that his wife took him to the emergency room in Branson.

Lake Regional was nearly full, too, but Dr.

“The doctor told me he was going to let my wife and kid in so I could say my goodbyes because he didn’t think I was going to pull through,” Barker said.

The Lake of the Ozarks region draws nearly 5.5 million annual visitors and made national news early in the pandemic, when large crowds were spotted ignoring social distancing while partying at bars and swimming pools.

Sohal said most of the COVID-19 patients at Lake Regional are locals, or people like Barker transferred from other hospitals.

Since June 7, Lake Regional has admitted 125 patients with the virus.