Over the past two weeks, Butler Memorial Hospital has seen a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Dr. John Love is the hospital’s infectious disease director and he says that when the case count initially rose last month, the positive cases were more geared to younger, healthier people.
But when the community spread level is high, it eventually will find its way into more vulnerable populations.
“Sooner or later that volume of virus incubates into the population and eventually will make its way into folks that are older, have more medical problems that won’t be able to tolerate an infection,” Love said.
He said this pattern has happened repeatedly across the country, which is why it’s important to keep transmission levels low.
“This is predictable. This is what we’ve been worried about and this is why we want to keep our community spread levels low so that we don’t end up with the virus hitting a bunch of people elsewhere that can’t hand the infection as well,” Love said.
