CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — A nurse who has spent the last few weeks on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic says these next few months are going to be an extremely unpleasant period for the country.
“Unfortunately, I think these next few months are going to be very dark for Michigan and perhaps the country,” said Lydia Mobley, a traveling nurse who appeared Thursday on “The Donlon Report.” Mobley, who just finished a nursing rotation in Michigan, said with the vaccination rate in that state being low, the unvaccinated are driving another surge and it’s taking a toll on the state’s already strained hospitals.
“Michigan hospitals are already at the brink. So, I only foresee in the next couple of months that getting worse, unfortunately, in Michigan.”
Mobley said most nurses are burned out, especially with the rise of the omicron variant. Cases of the omicron variant have been spiking nationwide. Early studies out of the U.K., Scotland, and South Africa found that patients infected with omicron are two-thirds less likely to end up in the hospital than those with delta. However, omicron is spreading much faster than delta, health officials said.
Mobley also talked about her experience dealing with patients in the intensive care unit. She said most of her severely sick patients wait until the last minute to ask for the vaccine, but she said by that time, it’s already too late. Mobley also acknowledged that some hospitals were allowing people to see their loved ones for the last time.
“The hospital I was just at allowed visitors at end of life for COVID patients with a paper mask and a face shield,” she said. “And so sometimes, the family could be at the bedside if they chose to. But bear in mind, that is an exposure, so they would have to quarantine after, but not as many people (are) dying alone. But unfortunately, they are still dying.”
Mobley said this winter’s surge is much different than that of last winter.
“Last winter … we’d have three patients dead (in) just the first four hours of the shift. And this winter, it’s like we’re having more deaths, but the difference is these patients are younger. These are 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds, 40-year-olds who thought they didn’t need to get vaccinated, who thought it wouldn’t affect them … and unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth, because now they’re dying.”
Mobley also provided some tips for those who are planning to gather with friends and family for the holidays.
“The best advice would be to limit or plan your gathering around the most vulnerable in your group you know, to determine what and how many layers of protection you would need, but everyone must absolutely be vaccinated.”
She added, “It’s important to bear in mind that protection from COVID is a layered system. We have all these different layers. Obviously, the strongest is vaccination, and then there is the layer of masking.”
She also said people should get tested as closely as possible when they are gathering but she also urged people to view rapid tests with caution.
“Because as the data shows, depending on the brand and if you have no symptoms, they can be less than 50% accurate. So just because you get a negative rapid test doesn’t mean that you should rush to go to a party or a gathering without a mask, especially if you’re unvaccinated.”