Doctors Concerned About COVID-19 Hospitalization Increase
BOSTON (CBS) - There are concerns over a new COVID surge ahead of the holidays and winter months. Twenty states including Massachusetts are seeing an increase in hospitalizations.
On Thursday, the state reported 657 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19, a number that is six times higher than it was in July. Most patients are between 60 and 80 years old.
Doctors say Boston hospitals are at capacity, short staffed and don't see the demand letting up.
"We do not see at the present time any light at the end of the tunnel," said Dr. Richard Nesto, Chief Medical Officer at Beth Israel Lahey Health. "There is no single factor that is going to change in the next several months at least where we think the situation will improve."
There is good news when it comes to protecting children. New numbers from the state show a big increase in young kids getting vaccinated. The number of vaccinated kids between 5-11 years old more than tripled this week to 88,500.
The state says 17% of kids 5-11 have at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine.