(CNN) — Dr. Nitesh Paryani, a third-generation radiation oncologist in Tampa, Florida, was recently forced to make a decision that he said neither he nor his family had to make in 60 years of treating patients.
A nearby hospital was working to move a cancer patient to a place that had adequate treatment options. Paryani said that he regularly accepts these types of patients, but that for the first time he was unable to do so due to the number of COVID-19 patients.
“We just didn’t have a bed. There was just no room in the hospital to treat the patient,” he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in an interview Wednesday.
The latest wave of covid-19, due in large part to the more transmissible delta variant, is pushing emergency rooms to the limit. Some states are reporting an ICU patient overflow, as well as staff shortages due to burnout and illness.
“The delta variant is sweeping hospitals in ways we could not have imagined and the strain it is causing on the healthcare system is unimaginable,” said Paryani, medical director of the Tampa Oncology and Proton Hospital.
Florida, which is home to about 6.5% of the United States population, has about 17% of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the country, according to data Wednesday from the Department of Health and Human Services. At least 100,317 people are hospitalized for covid-19 in the country, of which 17,164 are in Florida.
Paryani, who also shared his experiences in an op-ed in The Washington Post, said the cancer patient was later admitted to another nearby facility. Hospitals in the area, however, are beginning to delay procedures due to lack of beds, showing that the increase is not only affecting covid-19 patients; critical care for those in urgent need is slowing down and harder to find.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of patients coming in. The other day, our ER had a 12-hour wait. Almost every hospital in the city is on bypass, which means they don’t have room to take transfer. patients, “Paryani said. “Patients who need complex care just can’t access it. This kind of stress is something we’ve never seen before.”
Paryani urged Americans to get vaccinated, saying this is “the best tool we have” to overcome the pandemic.
“We are seeing in hospitals, more than 90 percent of the people who enter ICUs are not vaccinated. There is no doubt that the vaccine is the best option we have. It is also the cheapest option we have. It is the most effective, and there’s really no reason why people should avoid the vaccine, “he said.
“There is not a single patient that we have had to intubate due to a vaccine complication. The people we are intubating, the people on life support, the people who are dying are the ones who are not vaccinated.”
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenha contributed to this report.
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