Centra Health officials say they’ve seen an increase in COVID patients, including some with the Delta variant. Officials say Lynchburg General Hospital has 34 COVID patients, compared to 16 a week ago. Officials say they’ve also seen a shift in patients’ ages. 50% right now are younger than 59 years old, compared to last year when younger patients represented 25% of our inpatients. Officials say current patients tend NOT to have any pre-existing medical conditions, and younger patients are more likely to require intensive care or a ventilator. They say the majority of those hospitalized are not vaccinated.
Here is the entire news release from Centra:
COVID MEDIA ADVISORY
Centra Provides Update to Continued COVID-19 Response
August 6, 2021–Centra Lynchburg General Hospital and Centra Southside Community Hospital
in Farmville have seen an overall increase in COVID hospitalizations over the last week.
• Current Lynchburg General Hospital COVID census is 34 patients, 12 ICU. To put this
into perspective, Lynchburg General Hospital had 16 COVID inpatients one week ago.
• Current Centra Southside Community Hospital COVID census is 4 inpatients, bringing
our overall system total to 38.
• The Virginia Department of Health has confirmed cases of the Delta variant in our
district.
• We have seen a major shift in our inpatient demographics over the last month.
o Almost 50% of our COVID patients are younger than 59 years old. This is a
significant change from last year’s demographics when younger patients
represented only a quarter of our inpatients.
o In addition to being younger, current patients tend NOT to have any pre-existing
medical conditions such as diabetes or hypertension.
o While we previously saw less intense illness in young, healthy people our current
patients are MORE likely to require intensive care or a ventilator during their
hospital stay.
o The majority of hospitalized COVID patients are NOT vaccinated.
We appreciate your help in keeping our loved ones and community safe. As our COVID census
continues to grow, our visitation policy is subject to change quickly. We encourage visitors to
check the Centra website for current visitation guidelines before arriving at the hospital.
Lastly, we implore the community to get vaccinated, as it is the most effective tool we have to
stop the spread and reach community immunity.
Centra remains committed to informed transparency as we continue to battle COVID both in our
facilities and community. We remain prepared and ready to care for patients with suspected or
confirmed cases of COVID-19.
**We will be scheduling a virtual press conference early next week to answer questions and
update the community further. Email invites will be sent once we have a confirmed date and
time. **
Kindly contact the details below for more information:
Stephanie McBride or Diane Ludwig
Centra Communications and Public Relations