Lima sees record COVID hospitalizations - LimaOhio.com

Rita’s Medical Center recorded its highest-ever COVID-19 patient census on Tuesday: The hospital was treating as many as 104 patients with coronavirus disease, who accounted for one third of all patients that day.

Rita’s Medical Center recorded its highest-ever COVID-19 patient census on Tuesday: The hospital was treating as many as 104 patients with coronavirus disease, who accounted for one-third of all patients that day.

The trend is unfolding in Lima hospitals and community hospitals throughout the region, where record-breaking numbers of mostly unvaccinated patients being treated for COVID-19 means there are now fewer elective surgeries, more patients boarding in the emergency department and even triage of mildly ill patients who would otherwise wait hours in the emergency room to see a doctor.

Lima Memorial Health System is triaging patients to reduce emergency department wait times by directing mildly ill patients to telehealth or mid-level health providers, said Dr.

November marked the third-worst month for coronavirus infections in Allen County since the start of the pandemic, fueled by a highly contagious variant of coronavirus and limited interest in vaccines.

Since August, Allen County has seen more than 6,400 coronavirus cases and at least 74 deaths, many attributable to the surge caused by the highly contagious delta variant of coronavirus, preliminary Ohio Department of Health data show.

The variant, which became the dominant strain of the virus present in Ohio by late July, was so transmissible that Allen County saw a higher rate of coronavirus infections and almost as many deaths this fall as it did last year despite 40% of the population having started their vaccines.