While the drop in COVID-19 patients in the spring was encouraging, it's back to all hands on deck at Butler Memorial Hospital.

“We are continuing to provide every aspect of care that we have always provided to the community, but our resources are very heavily strained,” said Dr. David Rottinghaus, chief medical officer at the Butler Health System.

He said the nationwide spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations is straining health care systems due to a shortage of workers.

Health care workers have been leaving the field over the past 18 months, Rottinghaus said, and it's largely due to COVID-19 fatigue.

Nurses are leaving their hospital jobs during the pandemic to accept traveling positions where they can make two or even three times as much money, he said.

Other hospital caregivers are out because they have contracted the virus or are in quarantine due to exposure, Rottinghaus said.

On Aug. 3, Butler Memorial cared for 34 COVID-19 patients. Of those, 15% are vaccinated, Rottinghaus said.

But the unvaccinated continue to suffer the worst symptoms of COVID-19, such as being placed on a ventilator.

“The idea behind the vaccine is not to prevent COVID-19,” Rottinghaus said. “The idea is to prevent people from getting very, very sick.”

He said morale among hospital employees is difficult during the current spike in COVID-19 cases.

“It is difficult and it is somewhat wearing on folks when we have a very good tool in our box to prevent severe illness and disease,” Rottinghaus said. “Having a vaccine available and having that safe, effective solution to keeping the vast majority of people from getting COVID, and seeing that underutilized is hard to understand.”

While the peak number was 72 patients, the hospital had better staffing and was not offering some surgeries and procedures, Rottinghaus said.

He said the delta variant coupled with loosened restrictions on mitigation measures are two of the main reasons cases are increasing.

Rottinghaus said observing other states is not filling him with hope that the virus is going to wane anytime soon.

“I think we have a long winter ahead of us,” Rottinghaus said. “The fewer people we have vaccinated, the worse it's going to be and the more hospitalizations there are going to be.”

He said suspending all but lifesaving procedures is a real possibility at Butler Memorial if the current trend continues.

“Health systems that thought they would do better are doing poorly because vaccination rates are so low,” Rottinghaus said.

He said everyone wants to see children return to school, businesses flourish and restaurants overflow with customers.

“In order to make that happen, there are simple things we need to do,” Rottinghaus said.

He recommends everyone without the COVID-19 vaccine receive their shot or shots.