Southcentral Kentucky hospitals are seeing an increase in appointments for COVID-19 vaccines and in patients suffering from the virus amid the latest national spike.

Med Center Health Vice President of Corporate Support Services Dr. Melinda Joyce said The Medical Center at Bowling Green had 32 COVID-19 patients Friday. She said 22 of those were unvaccinated, and the others who were fully vaccinated have underlying conditions.

“It’s interesting because we are seeing all ages right now,” Joyce said. “They are as young as the 20s and as old as the 90s. It’s all ages, but it’s slightly younger than what we have seen in the past. This virus doesn’t discriminate. If it decides you are its target – it’s going after you.”

A few weeks ago, The Medical Center was seeing only a couple of COVID-19 patients weekly, but the recent spike caused by the virus’ delta variant has caused those numbers to skyrocket.

Gov. Andy Beshear Friday reported 2,612 cases across the state – the highest daily number since winter.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Human Services said every county in the Barren River region had a COVID-19 incidence rate defined at least as “substantial.” Six of the 10 counties – Logan, Warren, Barren, Metcalfe, Monroe and Hart – had an incidence rate categorized at the most severe level of “high.”

“The good news is that we are seeing an increase in vaccination appointments over the last week,” Joyce said. “We are in the process of switching our vaccine clinic over to our Urgentcare site, and we are making vaccines available in our emergency department. We are also trying to vaccinate anyone who is being discharged from the hospital.”

Vaccination numbers still remain low in the region, but the number of counties with a vaccination rate higher than 40% recently increased to three (Simpson, Logan and Warren).

She said Med Center Health throughout its corporate system has administered 87,812 vaccines, and its Bowling Green site has given 77,266 of those doses.

Joyce said The Medical Center isn’t near capacity, but she said staff safety is a concern. Another worry is people not coming in for other health-related issues due to the rise of COVID patients, she said.

While there is no mask mandate in Kentucky, she recommended everyone should go back to wearing masks in public.

“You just don’t know if the people around you are vaccinated or not,” Joyce said. “Also, still try to socially distance from others. When you are in situations where you are around people you aren’t familiar with, you should strongly consider wearing a mask.”

She also said the vaccine has helped cushion the blow of the latest variant, and numbers could be drastically higher if not for the portion of the public who got vaccinated.

Med Center Health is now administering the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Appointments can be made from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week for individuals age 12 or older. Appointments can be made by texting “COVID” to 270-796-4400 or by calling 270-796-4400.

T.J. Regional Health Executive Vice President of Marketing Stacey Biggs said the Glasgow hospital has seen vaccine requests triple since availability was expanded earlier in the week.

Thus far, T.J. Regional Health has administered 18,463 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

“The number of our COVID patients has remained steady this week, generally running between 11-15 patients reported each day,” Biggs said. “This morning (Friday) we have 14 COVID patients. The vast majority are unvaccinated. We report our numbers daily on our T.J. Regional Health Facebook page.”

Appointments are available Monday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. and can be made by calling 270-659-1010.

While T.J. Regional Health is not near capacity, Biggs said the latest spike has taken a toll on staff.

“Health care workers are a resilient bunch, but stress and fatigue are very real as they deal with the recent increase in COVID cases,” she said. “We are seeing a mixture of responses from staff from, ‘We’ve done this before and we can do it, again,’ to ‘I can’t believe we’re doing this again already.’ ”

Biggs encouraged anyone who has been thinking about getting the vaccine to “consider their reasons for holding off.”

“The vaccine has been administered to millions of people across the country and the data shows that it is safe and effective,” she said. “You might still get COVID if you’ve been vaccinated, but the likelihood of ending up in the hospital – or worse – is much lower. If you have questions about the COVID-19 vaccines, the best idea is to talk to your doctor.”

Barren River District Health Department Director Matt Hunt said his agency has administered more than 24,000 doses – most of which are Moderna – of vaccine throughout the district. Appointments can be made by calling any of the local county health departments in the region. More information can be found at www.barrenriverhealth.org/covid-19-information.

Due to the increase in COVID-19 infections, Fairview Community Health Center in Bowling Green has decided to partner with Bluewater Diagnostics again to provide drive-up testing in its parking lot.

Testing will carry no out-of-pocket cost to the individual and will run Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning Monday. It will continue until further notice. Test results will be emailed or sent via text message to the patient in about 48 hours.

A statement for the clinic said officials there believe “this testing resource is needed again to be part of our community’s fight against the virus.”

The clinic is currently also offering the Johnson & Johnson vaccines to current and established patients.