As COVID-19 cases rise across Wisconsin, frontline doctors and nurses at UW Health are reflecting on what it was like to care for patients before there was a vaccine available and how it feels to watch cases rise now that a vaccine is readily available.
In recent months, nearly all the people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the United States have been unvaccinated, and the same is true for UW Health, according to Dr. Ann Sheehy, associate professor and division head of hospital medicine at UW Health.
"Right now, we don't have the same numbers we had back in the fall and winter, but our numbers are climbing which is very concerning to all of us having gone through this seven or eight months ago," she says. "I think it's a little bit more difficult this time because we have the vaccine as a tool to prevent this."
When a person requires hospitalization for COVID-19, it is often because they cannot get the oxygen they need without help, Sheehy says. If a person’s COVID-19 case becomes severe enough, they can require a ventilator, which means a tube is inserted down their windpipe into their lungs to assist their breathing and the patient needs to be sedated or even placed in a medical coma to keep them alive.
"There's kind of a sense of we're all in this together and we're going to take care of everybody who needs us," she says. "But I think there is a sense of frustration and sort of a sense of defeat, to be honest, that you know we thought we had the finish line in front of us and now that finish line has moved and we don't see when the end is in sight anymore."
"I think for all of us, you know, it's heartbreaking when someone comes in with severe COVID-19 that didn't get the vaccine and we see this as something that could have been preventable," Sheehy says. "We all live in this community and we care about our patients. And it's just hard, it's really hard and I hope that these messages get out to people so that they are motivated to get vaccinated."
While vaccinated people can still get COVID-19 – the delta variant is especially contagious – breakthrough cases are still rare, and the vaccine is extremely effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death, Sheehy says.
Maddie Weitz, a nurse at UW Health, says she hopes people listen to the experts and think of others when deciding to get the vaccine.
“Cases are rising and we’re prepared to care for our patients, but we’re scared. We need people to wear masks and get vaccinated,” says Weitz. “Last year was so physically and emotionally demanding, we as nurses worry that we cannot survive another surge. We can’t go back. Please get vaccinated.”
