It is the middle of August. People are tired of the Covid pandemic that began a year and a half ago, so there isn’t even discussion of a lockdown and delaying the start of the school year. Yet this is the most dangerous time of the pandemic so far with the spread of the Delta variant that is finding fertile ground in the large number of unvaccinated people in Arkansas, leading to record numbers of new cases and hospitalizations from Covid-19.
“Unfortunately, we are on a steep upward slope of more cases which only foretells of more hospitalizations in the next week,” Dr. Joe Thompson, CEO, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI), said in a telephone interview. “The curve of infections in the past two or three weeks is deeper than at any time in the previous year. We are seeing an upward trajectory in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Our healthcare system is stressed. The thing that is frustrating is 90 percent or more of these deaths are preventable. These are not people who had to die because the vaccines prevent hospitalizations and the worse outcome, loss of life.
“Unfortunately, there is a great deal of misinformation, some of it deliberate,” Thompson said. “I attribute part of the surge to Covid fatigue. This Delta variant is more than twice as infective and more aggressive with younger individuals, including our kids. With the parent virus, most kids were not affected. Now we are seeing kids on ventilators in hospitals within our state. All this is in the backdrop of kids going back to college and school this week.”
Arkansas is using $38 million in federal pandemic funding to help open more hospital beds in partnership with Baptist Health. Neighboring Mississippi has seen such a high case rate that it has set up hospital beds in parking garages and requested a military hospital ship to help treat Covid patients, and is trying to hire 920 healthcare workers from out of state. The first two weeks of the month, the average number of new cases in Mississippi more than doubled from about 2,000 to 5,000.
Both states have a population of about 3 million. Mississippi has had 7,761 deaths compared to 6,432 in Arkansas.
“Mississippi is in trouble, and we are right behind them,” Thompson said. “I think we are paralleling their curve. Our healthcare system may be a little more resilient because we did the Medicaid expansion and Mississippi did not.”
Both states are largely rural, have low per capita incomes, and some of the lowest rates of vaccination in the country. Arkansas has the second highest death rate from Covid in the country.
Even with hospital bed expansions in the works, there is concern that might not be enough.
“With the Delta variant being twice as infectious as the parent virus, and the low rate of protection in the state, I’m afraid we are going to have a steep upward flow and many people will be harmed,” Thompson said. “It is like a forest fire that burns until it runs out of wood. We will get to herd immunity, but it may cost people a lot of harm. The wildcard is another variant that could be even more infectious and dangerous. The fewer people who are vaccinated, and the more the Delta variant is transmitted, the higher the likelihood is that another variant could emerge that could be even more problematic.
“Unfortunately, it is college students and kids returning to school who may have the greatest risk,” Thompson said. “We are seeing true leadership in some of our local school districts realizing the need to have masks in schools. Those leaders should be both recognized and supported across our state.”
Some people are turning to alternative treatments for Covid. One example is the hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug touted by Donald Trump to prevent Covid. Two local residents have told this reporter they have taken hydroxychloroquine rather than get a vaccine that they consider unnecessary or even dangerous.
“People are getting desperate and trying other things,” Thompson said. “There has been a blind trial with hydroxychloroquine. It did not have any effect in the treatment of Covid 19. Ivermectin [horse dewormer] has gotten a lot of attention but is not proven. There is a study under way.
“They are grasping at straws,” Thompson said. “I certainly wouldn’t take a worm medicine that says on the label: ‘Not for human consumption.’ We need to study these things to see what is going to work. An ivermectin trial is underway.”
The FDA warns taking large doses of this drug is dangerous and can cause serious harm.
“If you have a prescription for ivermectin for an FDA-approved use, get it from a legitimate source and take it exactly as prescribed,” the FDA said. “Never use medications intended for animals on yourself. Ivermectin preparations for animals are very different from those approved for humans.”
Thompson said that even with the FDA-approved remdesivir, the death rate is only decreased from 12 to 9 percent.
Some opposed to Covid vaccinations and masking repeat conspiracy theories that hospitals are making more money off Covid patients than if the patient had a different diagnosis. Thompson said while Congress has allocated resources to help the healthcare system manage this crisis, the surge in hospitalizations is unwelcome to hospital employees.
“Our healthcare workers are exhausted,” Thompson said. “The last thing a hospital or doctor wants is have a Covid patient in hospital on a ventilator. Those who claim our healthcare system is creating the Covid epidemic are patently wrong.”