FAIRFAX, Va. — Omicron, suspected to be the dominant variant, continues to fuel the surge in COVID-19 cases across the DMV.
There were at least 7,439 reported cases on Tuesday, which is a big jump from 4,472 the day before, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
Recent state health data showed the number of hospitalizations related to the virus in Virginia has remained around the same range within the last several days aside from a spike on Christmas Day. However, the rate jumped from 76 last Tuesday to 142 a week later.
Dr. Sam Elgawley of Inova Health System, which has five hospitals across the region, saw the COVID hospitalization rate increase from around 30 in mid-November to over 150 patients currently. Despite the rise, Elgawley said the number of COVID patients staying at the hospital has remained lower compared to the infection rate. It has been more steady in comparison to previous waves and the emergence of the Delta variant.
"Yes there's a trend lining up but when you look at it relatively to the rate of cases, that's actually a very muted response so that's a very positive thing," Elgawley told WUSA9.
Out of the roughly 1,700 patients across all five Inova hospitals, Elgawley said about 160 of them are related to COVID. The hospital system is busy with many needing medical attention for a variety of reasons during the winter months, but even cases of omicron are not helping.
"The COVID piece does add to it and maybe tips things a bit, but the paradigm is completely different," Elgawley said. "If we were talking about this in May 2020, I'd be telling you it was COVID tipping us over."
The positive outlook is credited to the people getting their vaccines or boosters.
Up to 80% of patients at Inova are unvaccinated. The rest have the vaccine but are dealing with other health concerns or are immunocompromised, according to Elgawley.
"It's literally the very definition of a gamechanger," Elgawley said. "If you get vaccinated and if you get boosted, omicron really becomes a completely different virus."
Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center said most of its COVID patients are unvaccinated.
Dr. Alice Tang, chief medical officer, said ICU beds are full and the ongoing staffing shortage is affecting workflow.
"The number of beds we can staff with our nurses we are at full capacity," Tang said. "We also have to deal with our health care workers suffering from COVID and we have to compensate for that and always assess that situation."
Despite staffing shortages, overall hospitalizations have remained steady at Sentara. Tang noted how 18% of patients at the hospital are related to COVID. Much of the protocols and hospitalization trends have stayed relatively steady since the last wave.
Although Tang admitted we are only at the start of the surge.
"They haven't really increased exponentially like the number of cases that we've seen but again, I don't know what's to come in the next few weeks and by volume alone, we might see an increase in hospitalizations," she said.
Symptoms so far reveal omicron is less severe than the Delta variant. However, omicron is far more infectious, which is driving more people to get tested.
Both hospital systems have not paused or delayed elective surgeries. Hospital staff is urging residents not to visit emergency rooms if they are only needing a COVID test.