Miami ICU full with unvaccinated patients

A Miami intensive care unit is overflowing with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, a local CBS affiliate reported on Tuesday.

Jackson Memorial Hospital’s ICU Nurse Manager Alix Zacharski told the CBS News affiliate that the “fourth wave” of the virus isn’t going well for them, calling it “the unvaccinated pandemic.”

“All of them are unvaccinated,” Zacharski said of the COVID-19 patients in the unit. “We’re full. All the patients that are currently here, six of them are under 60 years old.”

Of the 205 patients in JMH’s ICU units, 185 patients are unvaccinated, while 20 are vaccinated and 15 of those are immunocompromised, CBS4 reported. 

JMH’s lead physician David De La Zerda told CBS4 he is concerned about the spread among immunocompromised patients.

“There are many immunocompromised,” La Zerda told the local outlet. “We have here a large transplant program, so most of these patients are kidney transplant, lung transplant and some patients with obesity and hypertension.”

This comes as the U.S. is seeing a new rise of COVID-19 cases, due to the highly contiguous delta variant of the virus. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday plans to recommend more mask use, even among vaccinated people, as a result of the surge in cases in many parts of the U.S.