KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Health leaders posted an update on the COVID-19 pandemic on social media Thursday and said they believed the number of hospitalizations and cases would continue growing.
They said it did not appear like the surge in COVID-19 cases had peaked in East Tennessee yet. They said as of Jan. 18, there were 521 people hospitalized in the Knoxville region and 141 people hospitalized in the University of Tennessee Medical Center alone.
"We know hospitalizations lag behind cases, and so the next question is, 'When will hospitalizations peak?'" said Dr. James Shamiyeh with UT Medical Center. "The short answer is, we're really not sure at this point. But every indication we can see is that we're not quite at the peak, yet. Often, you don't know you're at the peak until you're at the other side of it, but the every sense we get is that the numbers are still increasing, we just don't know how much longer."
Most of the people in the hospital had not gotten a COVID-19 vaccine — around 67% of hospitalizations. Only around 6% of hospitalizations involved people who were fully vaccinated and had gotten a booster shot.
Despite the rising number of hospitalizations, Shamiyeh also said the Knoxville region was still below the previous peak during the wave COVID-19 cases from the Delta variant.
People were also staying in the hospital for comparatively fewer days, according to Dr. Shamiyeh. In the past 30 days, the average ICU stay was 9 days and the average stay in a regular hospital room was about 6 days.
In the past 90 days, people stayed in the ICU for an average of 14 days and stayed in a regular hospital room for around 8 days.
Shamiyeh finished the video update by speaking about how much strain the pandemic has placed on healthcare systems. He said several outpatient facilities and other providers have had to close their doors due to staff absence and the surge of illnesses.
"But obviously, in a hospital, the doors have to be open all the time," he said. "So that definitely presents challenges, and what we ask for, and what everyone asks for, is the patience of the community as we do our best navigating this difficult situation."