Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the country, straining the health care system and claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. Healthcare in the Victoria region has also been highlighted during the pandemic, and experts said they remain hopeful, despite monumental losses across the country, and continue to encourage vaccination to prevent death.
Nearly 1 million people in the US have died of COVID-19 during the pandemic, and nearly a quarter of them are preventable through vaccination according to a joint report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Peterson Center on Healthcare.
As of May 6, there have been a total of 994,187 deaths in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report estimated that 234,000 deaths could be prevented by vaccination.
The summary based this estimate on CDC data on vaccination effectiveness and the 270,000 deaths of unvaccinated people between June 2021 and March.
Currently, the unvaccinated population represents a minority of Americans, accounting for 22% as of February. Although they are a minority of the general population, the unvaccinated account for 60% of all COVID deaths, according to the report.
“These preventable deaths represent 60% of all adult deaths from COVID-19 since June 2021, when vaccines became widely available, and 24% of nearly 1 million COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began.” , it states.
Over time, the population of vaccinated people has accounted for a larger portion of COVID-19 than before due to three factors, according to the report. He said that vaccinated people represent a growing majority of the population; decreased immunity from the original vaccines among older populations who had access to the vaccine earlier; and the omicron COVID-19 variant, which became the dominant variant in late 2021, is more elusive for vaccine immunity, particularly those who have not received a booster dose.
“While currently available vaccines are substantially less effective in preventing infections with omicron compared to earlier variants, they continue to offer significant protection against hospitalization and death, particularly for people receiving a booster dose,” the report stated. .
Local officials said they were saddened by the national total of COVID deaths but were hopeful moving forward as the pandemic began to become less stressful on the health care system and hopefully will continue to be that way when spikes emerge during the summer as people begin to get out and participate in popular events.
“One million deaths from the pandemic in our country is a tragic marker that we all knew was coming,” said Daniel Cano, chief medical officer at Citizens Medical Center. “Citizens mourn with the families and friends of each person lost, and we look forward to continued success against this virus that has caused us all so much suffering.”
The nine-county Crossroads region has seen nearly 1,200 deaths over the course of the pandemic, but cases have recently begun to level off as the pandemic becomes endemic.
As of May 1, the antibody infusion center, which was operated by the county and the state and opened in September, closed its doors as it became less needed because the pandemic was far less taxing on the hospital system, said David Gonzales of Victoria County. Director of the Department of Public Health. The goal of the infusion center was to relieve some of the burden on hospitals, which also provide these treatments.
It’s unfortunate that the country has reached this milestone, but vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself from the virus, Gonzales said.
There will be a spike in cases as the summer progresses, with people out and about, that’s how viruses spread. But hopefully, trends will hold steady and hospitals will remain relatively tax-free, Gonzales said.
Kyle Cotton was born and raised in San Antonio and is a graduate of San Antonio College and the University of Texas at Arlington. Cotton has covered economic development, health care, finance, government, technology, oil and gas, and higher education.
Reference-www.victoriaadvocate.com