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Unvaccinated Are Majority Of Those Sick And Dying From COVID In Douglas Co.

Douglas County Public Health officials say the majority of COVID patients being treated at Mercy Medical Center are unvaccinated.
Mercy Health Center
Douglas County Public Health officials say the majority of COVID patients being treated at Mercy Medical Center are unvaccinated.

Each day, Douglas County continues to see triple digit COVID-19 cases --many resulting in hospitalization and too often, in deaths.

Public Health Officer Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer said an overwhelming majority of the sick in Mercy Medical Center are unvaccinated.

“The two most striking statistics I’ve seen this week is that 16 out of 17 people in the ICU at Mercy are among the unvaccinated,” he said. “The other striking thing is when I looked at the people who were on ventilators, that’s the sickest of the sick—every single one of them was younger than me.”

Dannenhoffer is 65.

He asked those who are still vaccine hesitant to look at the case rates and hospitalizations and recognize the best way to help is to get the shot. He added there are up to twenty vaccination sites operating around the county.

So far, 140 Douglas County residents have died from COVID-19.

Copyright 2021 KLCC. To see more, visit KLCC.

Tiffany Eckert is a reporter for KLCC, the NPR member station in Eugene, Oregon. Her reporting comes to JPR through the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
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