Emergency room overwhelmed with unvaccinated COVID patients: "He is never going to have the same life he had"
Dozens of states have seen COVID hospitalizations go up in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The surge in new cases almost all are related to the Delta Variant which still accounts for more than 99% of all new cases.
As cases increase, hospitals like Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Pennsylvania, are being overwhelmed.
Hospital staff at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center said they are operating at about 120% capacity with nearly a quarter of patients in the COVID unit.
Almost all the patients being treated at the hospital's emergency room are unvaccinated, emergency room physician Dr. Essie Reed said.
"The saddest thing is when they're asking when they can get the vaccine and you're just not sure if they're going to make it to that point to be able to offer it to them," said Reed.
Kyle Whiting's family said Kyle was perfectly healthy with no underlying conditions when he contracted COVID in October. He's been hospitalized ever since.
His sister believes had Whiting been vaccinated, he would have been in better shape.
"I think it would have helped him medically. I think it wouldn't have been as bad, but I couldn't say for sure if it would have prevented all this," Katelin Lillie said.
Whiting spent his 27th birthday on life support and has even missed his wedding. His lungs are no longer functioning, and he now needs a double transplant. The process for the transplant operation was delayed.
He is never going to have the same life he had," said Lillie.