Lewis County Herald - Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898

Maury Regional Health (MRH) is treating 107 COVID inpatients, with 28 in critical care today, surpassing a record of 102 set on December 28, 2020, according to Chief Medical Officer Martin Chaney, M.D.

“On Friday, Maury Regional Medical Center was forced to transition most private rooms to semi-private in an effort to serve the influx of patients,” said Dr. Chaney. “Today, we have 162 inpatients at Maury Regional Medical Center and 107 system-wide are COVID patients. We also have a large number of patients in our emergency departments being evaluated at this time and expect more COVID admissions.”

According to Chaney, the only way to curb this trend is to use the tools currently available, including vaccination, social distancing, masking and monoclonal antibody treatments.

“We cannot continue to live our lives as if this virus does not exist,” said Chaney. “The delta variant is two to three times more contagious than the original strain. If we continue to go unvaccinated and gather in group settings unmasked, we will overwhelm the health care systems in our state.”

CEO Alan Watson expressed his concern for the continued burden on frontline staff.

“Each day, I am amazed at how our care teams rise to the challenge and treat more and more patients; however, I am worried about the toll this is taking on them,” said Watson. “As a community, we must do all that we can to support the nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists and others who are fighting for our patients, the majority of whom have chosen not to be vaccinated.”

According to Dr. Chaney, 90.4% of hospitalized COVID inpatients at Maury Regional Health in August were not fully vaccinated. Local, regional and state trends, suggest the numbers will continue to increase in the coming days.

“While breakthrough infections have occurred—and occur with all vaccines—the COVID vaccine remains extremely effective in reducing hospitalizations and deaths. Please get vaccinated,” said Chaney. “We also strongly encourage anyone with severe symptoms to visit their physician and discuss monoclonal antibody treatment.”

Monoclonal antibody treatments are administered with a physician’s order and must be administered early in the disease process before symptoms are severe or require hospitalization. Maury Regional Health is among those offering this treatment. More information is available at https://www.mauryregional.com/patient-and-visitor-information/covid-19-treatment-options. Additional treatment locations may be found at tn.gov.

Maury Regional Health has administered more than 30,000 vaccinations to date and continues to offer vaccination opportunities for the public through its mobile unit and vaccination clinic located at 854 W. James Campbell Boulevard. For more information about vaccination, please visit MauryRegional.com/COVIDvaccine. Vaccination is also offered at county health departments and retail pharmacies throughout the region.