COVID hospitalizations continue to soar

Although not confirmed, omicron could already be in Yuma County - 13 On Your Side's Arlette Yousif reports

YUMA, Ariz (KYMA, KECY) - COVID hospitalizations are not letting up, but Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) reports it has not seen any confirmed omicron cases among its patients so far.

YRMC COVID tests with positive results are sent out to a separate lab every two weeks for further testing to detect if omicron has hit our community.
This, as the first omicron death in the U.S. was confirmed in Harris County, Texas on Monday.

"Most of the surges we saw predominately affected COVID patients who were above the age of, you know, 55, 65 and above. This time around we are seeing almost a split. You know, we have patients— half the patients are below the age of 50," says Yuma Regional Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bharat Magu.

Although it can impact any age group, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo reports that the omicron victim was in his fifties and not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dr. Magu says that just because tests have not identified omicron in the Yuma community, does not mean it’s not already here.

"We believe some of this is [the] new variant also in the mix, although we don’t have the genetic data at this point to confirm it," explains Dr. Magu.

Now, a doctor’s plea to the public.

"Nobody needs to go [through] severe sickness or a life-threatening situation, or suffer-- experience the loss of life in the family to get serious about getting the vaccination. I just do not understand why there is so much reluctance for this vaccination at this point of time," says Dr. Magu.

Dr. Magu says that being fully vaccinated against COVID with a booster shot on top of the regular doses reduces the chance of severe illness and passing the virus on to others by approximately 75%.