Photo: Winona Health
WINONA, Minn. (KWNO)-Winona Health has reactivated its COVID-19 wing.
“We’ve re-instituted putting in a COVID wing in our hospital, really in preparation for what’s happening right now or might still be coming,” President/CEO Rachelle Schultz said on KWNO’s In the Know Monday morning. “This worked really well for us last winter when we had a big surge.”
Schultz said hospital admissions are climbing and that she doesn’t know if Winona Health has seen the peak of the surge yet. One factor she says they’re watching is COVID-19 vaccination rates.
“The vaccination really does a lot to reduce hospitalization, reduce the severity of illness,” Schultz said. “You might still potentially get [COVID-19] even if you’re vaccinated but the degree of illness is quite significantly less. It’s the folks that are unvaccinated that we are worried about that could end up in the hospital and be super sick.”
Schultz said the vast majority of people admitted to Winona Health for COVID-19 are not vaccinated against the virus. The CDC lists Winona County as experiencing a high transmission rate of COVID-19.
“We have been seeing an increase in hospitalizations over the past week or two,” Schultz said. “Almost three times as many as we had the week leading up to that.”
Schultz said people hospitalized for COVID range in age from 30 to 70 and says they are very sick. She said Winona Health is still taking patients from other parts of the state to help with capacity concerns.
“Our goal here is really how do we help people not become hospitalized or have severe illness or potentially even up to death,” said Schultz.
Listen to Monday’s interview with Winona Health President/CEO Rachelle Schultz below.
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