With COVID-19 cases and other sicknesses on the rise in recent weeks, officials at The Medical Center at Bowling Green and T.J. Samson Community Hospital in Glasgow said both hospitals were experiencing longer wait times for those seeking treatment.

On Friday, Med Center Health Executive Vice President Wade Stone said the hospital had 31 COVID-19 inpatients. T.J. Regional Health Executive Vice President of Marketing Stacey Biggs said the Glasgow hospital had 23 such patients.

Both are increases from last week’s COVID-19 inpatient numbers.

Stone said of the 31, 68% are unvaccinated, 10 are in critical care and five are on a ventilator. Eighty percent of those on a ventilator are unvaccinated, and only one inpatient out of the 31 previously received their booster shot.

He said earlier in the week they had seen nearly 40 patients with COVID-19.

“We are seeing an uptick in hospitalizations not just tied to COVID,” Stone said. “The hospital census has been running high. It has led to long wait times particularly in the emergency department. We are asking the public for patience as we receive more patients in the hospital.”

Stone said The Medical Center was operating at a usual, high-capacity level for this time of year with increased sickness expected.

However, he stressed the recent spike in hospitalizations was concerning.

“The more information that our community and those who are not vaccinated can seek out from local providers – the better,” Stone said. “We have been in this pandemic long enough to know there is enough information out there. I encourage anyone who is able to get their booster shot to do so. That’s going to be the best means for all of us to move past the pandemic.”

Med Center Health is also moving its COVID-19 vaccine clinic back to the WKU Health Sciences Complex on The Medical Center campus.

For the last several weeks, the clinic was moved to Medical Center Urgentcare off Lovers Lane. Stone said there was a need to ease the burden on the Urgentcare location, which is currently caring for many patients.

“The best advice I can give is to follow the guidance from experts and your personal physician,” he said. “Warren County is blessed in that we have an outstanding group of health care providers. Our medical staff has been fantastic to work with throughout this pandemic.”

Similarly, Biggs said the vast majority of T.J. Samson’s COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated. Only five of the 23 patients are fully vaccinated. Of the 23, 11 were age 65 or older, nine were between ages 50-64 and three were between ages 30-49.

She added the hospital’s positivity rate was again on the rise this week to 19%, and the emergency room is “definitely” experiencing longer than normal wait times due to COVID-19 and other illness.

As of Friday, Warren County still ranks as one of the state’s lowest in vaccination rate with only 40.30%% of the county’s population vaccinated.

The latest update from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Human Services on Friday showed every county in the Barren River region is marked red for having a “critical” COVID incidence rate.

Of the 10 counties in the Barren River region, only two have a vaccination rate of at least 50%: Simpson and Logan. Warren, Allen, Monroe, Metcalfe, Barren and Butler County all have a vaccination rate of at least 40%.

Edmonson and Hart County both have a rate beneath 40% and are two of the five lowest vaccinated counties in the state.