BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

St. Lawrence County hospitals will soon be overwhelmed if COVID-19 hospitalizations continue at the current rate.

St. Lawrence County Board of Health President Dr. Andrew Williams did not provide a breaking point number in regard to staff, beds or equipment needed to treat patients but said Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center and St. Lawrence Health Systems are strained by the current wave of infections.

“At this time there are 17 patients with COVID at St. Lawrence Health Systems and eight at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center. Both systems are strained but continue to have capacity. If the number of COVID hospitalizations in St. Lawrence County continues at the current rate, we could overburden our local hospital resources.”

Reports of overburdened hospitals are being reported in rural communities across the nation, most commonly in areas with low vaccination rates.

Making things even more difficult in St. Lawrence County was a nursing shortage that existed prior to the pandemic.

Williams says local hospitals have admitted COVID-19 patients ranging from less than one to 95 years old since the Delta strain wave began.

He said patient admissions this week were 12% 20-44, 6% 45-54, 24% 55-64, 24% 65-74, 17% 75-84 and 17% over 85.

Dr. Andrew Williams said there has been a slight increase of pediatric and young adults visiting the emergency room for COVID-19 treatment as well over the past week.

Of those who recently died of COVID-19, the youngest was 60 and the oldest was 85.

Williams says while some vaccinated people have been admitted for treatment, the vast majority, 85 to 90 percent, were unvaccinated.

St. Lawrence County is seeing a dramatic rise in COVID-19 infections with active cases approaching 600, seven recent deaths and 29 hospitalizations, according to the department of public health.

A large number of recent cases is coming from St. Lawrence University where more than 100 active cases were reported.

SUNY Potsdam is now seeing an increase in cases as well with nearly 40 students testing positive.

Other colleges are faring a bit better with just four active cases at SUNY Canton and Clarkson University.

With vaccination requirements in place at the college, some have questioned why the outbreaks have occurred, some have even alleged that vaccinations cards have been forged.

However, Williams says there is no evidence to support those claims.

“Many of the cases at SLU represent ‘breakthrough’ cases – typically mild or asymptomatic. There has been no evidence of vaccine card forgery that the Board of Health or Department of Health are aware of. The high vaccination rate among students has protected them from serious illness and a more dramatic and widespread outbreak,” he said.

The college concurred.

“The University does not have any evidence of students using counterfeit vaccination cards. Members of our Health Services team spend a lot of time this summer and during student arrival verifying each student's CDC card and checking dates to ensure compliance with our student vaccine requirement,” said Paul Redfern, vice president of communication at St. Lawrence University.