75% of COVID-19 beds in PGH occupied
CNN Philippines – The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) said 169 of its 225 COVID-19 beds are already utilized as of Saturday.
“That’s roughly 75 percent occupancy,” PGH spokesman Jonas del Rosario said in a Laging Handa briefing.
Of those admitted to PGH, six are children – three of them are critical, two are moderate, and one is mildly ill, according to del Rosario.
Two of the children in critical condition have comorbidities while the other one developed Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a complication of COVID-19, he added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines MIS-C as a rare but serious condition in which various organs become inflamed.
Samples of these coronavirus-hit kids have been sent to the Philippine Genome Center to determine what variant they have.
Experts have said Delta, which is among the four variants of concern, appears to make people sicker.
It also spreads the fastest and appears to reduce the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
Vaccinated vs. unvaccinated
Del Rosario said they are currently getting updates on the vaccination status of the COVID-19 patients admitted to PGH.
But based on their latest survey conducted on Aug. 3, 86 percent of 110 hospitalized patients are unvaccinated, 11 percent received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, and 3 percent are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, 80 percent of PGH’s healthcare workers are fully vaccinated.
The hospital logged 26 “breakthrough” infections in May, another 28 in June, and 38 in July, but most of them had mild symptoms, del Rosario said.
Others did not have symptoms while some got moderately ill, he added.
Breakthrough means a fully vaccinated individual has tested positive for coronavirus.
Experts said currently available shots – which are mostly for 18 years old and above – can prevent one’s risk of getting hospitalized or dying if they catch the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
