Novant Health Intensive Care Units Are Now 97% Full

Novant Health's hospitals are filling up with COVID-19 patients. 

Chief epidemiology officer Dr. David Priest says the health system's ICUs are now 97% full. And he says the overwhelming majority of patients are unvaccinated.  

About 9% of those hospitalized have received their shots though, and Priest says they have a few characteristics in common. 

“On average, those individuals are 77 years old, they were often vaccinated very early in the pandemic. They typically have a number of other chronic medical problems. So it just speaks to the need for boosters in that age group.”

Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given health care providers the go-ahead to begin administering boosters shots to immunocompromised people, Novant isn't offering them yet.

Novant officials say they are working through logistical details, but they “anticipate administration to begin soon.”