Hospitals in several states are hitting a milestone: no COVID-19 patients for the first time since March 2020. However, the picture is much different for some hospitals in Oregon and Wyoming, which are still seeing surges in COVID-19 patients, according to CNN.
Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center in Anniston and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco held celebrations in May after seeing their first days with no COVID-19 patients, according to CNN. Both hospitals have since treated several COVID-19 patients, but case numbers are much lower than during winter's peak.
Hospitals in Utah and Connecticut likewise have not seen any COVID-19 patients for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and a hospital in Minnesota closed down its COVID-19 unit. The milestones largely can be credited to COVID-19 vaccines, according to the report.
However, uneven vaccination rates in the U.S. have caused some hospitals to face a recent uptick in COVID-19 patients, nearly exclusively among unvaccinated patients. Jeff Absalon, MD, the chief physician executive for St. Charles Health System in Bend, told CNN that Central Oregon remains "in the middle of a surge of COVID patients."
Jeffrey Chapman, MD, the chief medical officer at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Regional Medical Center, told CNN his staff are concerned about a recent uptick in COVID-19 patients. "When we see literally numbers doubling and tripling in a week, we get scared," he told the publication.