KPCC: The Latest COVID-19 Conditions
KPCC show AirTalk recently featured Sam Torbati, MD, co-chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, updating listeners on the latest COVID-19 developments.
Torbati told AirTalk host Larry Mantle that the number of COVID-19 cases is declining at Cedars-Sinai as the delta surge recedes. "We are happy to see it is slowly going away," he said.
Torbati added that many people seeking emergency care for COVID-19 have been unvaccinated. "The delta wave, it was predominantly younger patients, and predominantly unvaccinated [patients]," he told Mantle.
However, individuals with conditions unrelated to COVID-19 are now keeping the hospital busy after postponing care during the latest pandemic surge.
"People put off a lot of things, and in talking to patients, they were planning on going, then another wave came so they put it off for a few more months," Torbati told Mantle.
He urged listeners not to give up on COVID-19 vaccination efforts and to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Even though cases are declining in Los Angeles County, Torbati cautioned that he expects to see more waves in the future. The vaccine is the best way to avoid visits to the emergency department or a stay in the hospital, and it's critical to get the shot before the next wave hits.
"It may not fully protect you from getting infected again, but it will protect you from landing in the hospital on a ventilator, and it certainly reduces your mortality in a way that nobody would have predicted," Torbati told listeners.
Click here to listen to the complete interview from KPCC.