Omicron is sending a larger share of vaccinated people to the hospital than any previous COVID-19 variant, but unvaccinated people are still more likely to need critical care, according to Houston-area hospital officials.
Twenty-two of the 27 COVID patients in Harris Health System’s intensive care units are unvaccinated. At Houston Methodist, roughly 60 percent of the 80 COVID patients in the ICU are unvaccinated, and a high percentage of the remaining patients have underlying health conditions, said Dr. Faisal Masud, the hospital’s medical director of critical care.
It’s a similar story at St. Luke’s Health and Memorial Hermann Health System, both of which say 70 percent of ICU patients are unvaccinated.
“The vast majority of the people who are critically ill are either unvaccinated or have significant comorbidities,” said Dr. James McCarthy, chief physician executive at Memorial Hermann. “We are not seeing middle-aged, healthy, vaccinated individuals in the ICU like we did in the previous wave.”
While vaccinated Houstonians are largely avoiding intensive care, there is still a staggering increase in the population’s overall hospitalization rate.
A recent study at Houston Methodist found that 675 of the 1,313 hospitalized patients with omicron were vaccinated — a significantly higher share than the alpha and delta surge. The variant appears to cause milder sickness overall, with more patients coming to the hospital for non-COVID concerns, before testing positive for the virus. However, the sheer volume of infections has already led to record number of daily hospitalizations in the medical center.
Statewide, the number of patients in the ICU has been steadily rising since Christmas Eve, from 1,030 to 1,711 on Wednesday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That’s about half of the patients in the ICU at the peak of the delta wave, but some Houston hospitals are already seeing ICU rates double over the last week.
The number of incoming ICU patients could exceed all previous peaks, said Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, president and CEO of Harris Health System. While the vaccines may not be as effective as they were initially, the current ICU population indicates that “they are still extremely effective against severe disease,” he said.
“More and more breakthrough infections are going to happen,” Porsa said. “We’re going to get a higher percentage of people who are vaccinated, but that number is never going to be a big number. It’s always going to be minority of people.”
Overall, doctors say omicron is not damaging the lungs as much as earlier strains. Fewer COVID patients in the Harris Health ICU require mechanical ventilation compared to delta, said Porsa, but other health issues like kidney and heart failure are becoming more common.
At Methodist, Masud has observed a similar pattern. A large portion of ICU patients Masud has treated ended up in the unit because the virus exacerbated an existing disease. The risk of facing such complications is higher for unvaccinated people, he said.
“This is eliciting an immune response, which is not only limited to lungs but which makes the patients sicker, with existing disease becoming much worse,” he said.
Masud said that now is a critical time to wear a well-fitted mask in public, especially for people who are not vaccinated.
He also encouraged people to seek out a booster shot, which dramatically decreases the chances of needing intensive care. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made booster doses available for 12- to 15-year-olds.
“I’m personally telling my friends, my family, everybody I know, that if you know of somebody who has not been boosted, you’ve got to get them boosted,” Masud said. “If you’re boosted and you’re relatively healthy, you’re going to get through this virus without any significant consequences, hopefully.”
julian.gill@chron.com
