Covid-19 Live Update: It looks like COVID-19 is slowly gripping most states of the US as it happened in the past. Amid an acute surge in the coronavirus infections, several questions are being raised against the decision taken by some countries to give additional shots to healthy vaccinated people.
Covid-19 Live Update: With an ongoing surge in the COVID-19 cases, Hawaii is reported to have been struggling to supply oxygen tanks from the mainland as most state hospitals have grown infections due to the new coronavirus strain.
This is the reason why most medical experts continue to urge people to postpone elective surgeries. It’s because with more number of people admitting to hospitals lead to the shortage of beds.
As per the reports, all 223 ICU beds of the state are known to have dwindled to 16 available. This is what the president and chief executive of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii stated.
“The most critical point for Hawaii that we’ve experienced during this entire pandemic is right now,” he said.
It’s not started happening in Hawaii in the recent past. The fact is that the state has been battling an acute surge in the number of fresh coronavirus cases. As per New York Times, the number of reported cases on Tuesday surged up to 884.
In addition to the above, the 7 day hospitalization also peaked at 427 on Monday. If experts are to be believed, the sudden surge in the number of infection raised due to the highly contagious nature of Delta variant along with low vaccination rates. People need to be aware of the coronavirus symptoms long before they actually appear.
In view of the surge of the number of fresh COVID-19 cases in Hawaii, the governor of the state has asked tourists not to visit the state. Mr. Raethel stated that as many as 95% of patients hospitalized are those unvaccinated residents and not tourists.
The demand for oxygen has grown mainly because of these hospitalized patients. At present, the demand for oxygen has grown up to 250% as compared to the month of August. This is what the association stated in th statement released. Although, the state authorities approached to the mainland for help, but they had to meet with challenges.
As per Mr. Raethel, the reason why the shortage of liquid oxygen grew in the state is because of an international shortage. Also, it also has to take up to a month’s time to ship the tanks in boats across the pacific. Please note that liquid oxygen is highly flammable and dangerous to transport by plane.
“If New York runs out of oxygen, you ship it in from New Jersey or put it on a truck,” he said. “Even Alaska can drive it across the border from Canada or Washington.”
Mr. Raethel stated that the state has 10 tanks at present and each carries up to 3,500 gallons of liquified oxygen.
Looking at the devastated condition, the state government of Hawaii has requested the required assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and some other agencies to enhance the oxygen supply.
Mr. Raethel said, “Living in Hawaii is wonderful when things are going well, but it’s really challenging when you have logistical concerns.” he said.
Right now, all the ICU beds are equipped with trained staff along with specialized equipment who can easily handle critically ill patients. Experts also say that proper health care to the sickest patients is looking a difficult task at the moment with over 95% occupancy of hospital beds.
Also Read: Pfizer & BioNTech Plan to Seek FDA Approval for Booster Dose
Source(s):
//www.nytimes.com/live/2021/09/02/world/covid-delta-variant-vaccine