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First responders urge people to get COVID-19 vaccinations as cases & hospitalizations climb

Wellspan Health Dr. Eugene Curley urges vaccinations as he said the 'horse is out of the barn' on the new surge of COVID-19 due to the delta variant.

Infectious Disease specialist Dr. Eugene Curley of Wellspan Health says he thinks "the horse is out of the barn already" on the new surge of COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania. 

Now he continues to urge vaccinations as the delta variant continues to impact states across the nation. 

"What we're seeing is 90% plus of patients that are hospitalized at this time with COVID-19 are unvaccinated," said Curley. 

As of Wednesday at Wellspan Health hospitals alone, there are a total of 174 patients. Sixty-two of those patients are in York.

Find a breakdown of patients in other healthcare systems in Pennsylvania here.

Credit: Wellspan Health

"Local hospitals are telling us the ICU's are starting to fill up again with COVID patients," said Joseph Stevens, Chief of York Regional EMS.

Stevens said York Regional transports around three to four people to the hospital a week. He said that's a slight increase. 

"It's probably about three or four a week -- that being up from zero," he said. "I mean we got to a point where we really weren't seeing any COVID patients."

He added, it's not anywhere near the amount of transports his EMS crews were conducting last year prior to vaccinations. 

"Oh, it's a drastic, drastic change. Last year we were running around 16 calls a day. Out of that, 3/4 or more were COVID positive patients last year," he said. 

Stevens said the majority of his EMS workers are vaccinated. They also take extra precautions when responding to any possible COVID patient. Ambulances are also decontaminated after certain calls, including calls for patients with breathing issues.

"At this point it's not overwhelming at a level that it was eight months ago," he said about the surge. 

However, Stevens said he is watching the case numbers closely in other states. He said first responders are holding daily zoom calls to track infection rates. 

When FOX43 asked him if he was concern over Delta's possible impact in Pennsylvania, he said "it's certainly concerning. We watch it closely."

Download the FOX43 app here.

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