COLUMBIA, S.C. — There's a sigh of relief at South Carolina hospitals as COVID-19 cases, fueled by the more contagious Omicron variant, fall from record highs.
Dr. Christine Carr, the Senior Clinical Advisor for the S.C. Hospital Association, is no stranger to the front lines, working as an emergency physician at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).
"We're tired. We still are wearing our N-95 masks for eight straight hours and we're taking care of a lot of people that have COVID. Thankfully, we're able to send many of them home," Dr. Carr said. "Still definitely seeing a lot of cases, but nothing close to our peak."
She says the number of sick children has fallen by about half with the State Children's Hospital Collaborative reporting 26 hospitalizations statewide on Friday.
Staffing, a concern throughout the pandemic, is also improving as some workers, sick with the virus, recover and return.
Still, she says, there is cause for concern.
While cases of the now dominant Omicron strain are generally milder, the number of those gravely ill continues to grow.
"We still see a lot of people dying. You know, nationally two thousand to three thousand people a day are dying," Dr. Carr said. "Get vaccinated, get boosted, wear a mask.... almost, you know, greater than 90 percent of patients in the hospital with COVID are people who have not been vaccinated and we've seen it with every variant of the diesase."
Dr. Carr added that there is a certain level of immunity received from contracting COVID-19.
According to Dr. Carr, while individuals could still become reinfected, they're not likely to become seriously ill for at least a few months.
She said that protection period decreases for those who have not had the vaccine.