St. George Regional Hospital overwhelmed amid Omicron surge

ST. GEORGE, Utah (KDXU) - Dr. Brandon Webb, a Disease Specialist with Intermountain Healthcare says hospitals, including the St. George Regional Hospital may not be able to fully treat al COVID-19 patients as treatment and the Omicron variant is causing cases to surge.

“Everybody has heard of coronavirus, everybody has heard of COVID, everybody has heard of COVID-19 and I think many people would like to not hear those terms any longer and to forget those terms so we can get to where life was two years ago and that’s simply not where we’re at right now,” says Dr. Patrick Carroll, the Medical Director for Intermountain's St. George Regional Hospital.

As record positive COVID-19 cases plague the state, Southern Utah's rate of infection is also rising.

“We are seeing a higher amount of individuals that have been vaccinated, particularly those who haven’t received a booster that are having breakthrough cases,” says Dr. Carroll.

Dr. Carroll says they're only one tier away from being in full crisis mode. Dr. Webb says treatment options for the virus are limited and he worries hospitals may not be able to fully treat all COVID-19 patients.

“When we have limited resources for treatment, either based on treatment options or availability of those tool, prevention becomes even that much more important,” says Dr. Carroll.

Dr. Carroll says the majority of hospitalization they're seeing could have been prevented by following CDC suggested guidelines and through vaccination.

“For those who haven’t received a booster, go ahead and get the booster shot, for those that have been on the fence with vaccination, go ahead and start that series so you can protect your friends and your family,” says Carroll.

Dr. Carroll says according to some of the hospital's projections, the peak of this surge may happen near the end of this month.