BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Local and regional hospitals continue to plead with the public to do what they can to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
PeaceHealth regional Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sudakar Karlapudi says the record numbers of COVID-19 patients are straining the entire system.
“People are having accidents, trauma care, gall bladder care, heart care, brains, so those things are still going on,” says Karlapudi. “And now we have this new disease that’s taking up a large portion of our hospitals.”
The CEO of Island Hospital in Anacortes says they’re also seeing a surge in cases from Skagit and San Juan Counties.
The head of the emergency department at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle says the number of COVID-19 patients currently in Washington could completely fill four of his hospitals.
He says we all sometimes lose sight of the real threat.
“We really do have a common enemy and that enemy is COVID,” he says. “So, my plea is that we all put on our defenses and fight this common enemy as we always have in this country.”
They all echo each other in asking people to first get vaccinated.
If that’s not possible, take other steps such as masking in public, avoiding large gatherings and practicing good hygiene.