Record number of Ohioans in the hospital with COVID-19

OHIO — A record number of Ohioans are in the hospital with COVID-19.

The Ohio Hospital Association reported on Monday that across Ohio, nearly 6,200 people are in the hospital with the virus, which is one in three patients.

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This is compared to numbers released late last week, when one in four patients had the virus.

News Center 7′s Molly Koweek spoke to doctor Marc Belcastro, The Chief Medical Officer for Premier Health, about this increase.

“Given the new variant, omicron, how rapidly contagious it is, and the sheer volume of individuals that are being infected by it, I’m not surprised that the numbers are going up in the hospital at all,” Belcastro said.

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Belcastro also explained, that at least right now, it appears omicron causes more mild infections.

Additionally, the sheer amount of people testing positive is why more people are ending up in the hospital.

Belcastro said scientists still need to study the variant to figure out exactly how it affects people.

“We are saying it’s a milder infection, and most evidence points to that, but it’s going to be a while before we sort out some of those differences because we do have a higher proportion of individuals locally and in the country that are vaccinated, compared to when delta hit,” Belcastro said. “So the combination of the vaccine, may make it appear to be milder at this time, when it’s not as mild as we think it is.”

Belcastro says we still need a little more data to definitively make this conclusion.

The FDA also shortened the time people need to wait to get a booster from six months to five months, on top of recommending 12 to 15-year-olds be eligible for Pfizer’s booster for the first time.

Belcastro says he supports this move.

“You know that 12 and over vaccination has been with us for a while, and many of those adolescents have been vaccinated, so with, particularly with omicron, I’m happy to see that,” Belcastro.

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