97% of Ballad Health COVID-19 patients on ventilators are not vaccinated

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — A vast majority of critical COVID-19 patients at Ballad Health are not vaccinated against the virus — a trend that has not changed since the health system began releasing vaccination data as it pertains to novel coronavirus hospitalizations.

On Wednesday, Ballad revealed that of the 441 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in facilities spanning across 21 counties in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, 385 remain unvaccinated.

As previous data has shown, this disparity heightens among critical cases of the virus. Ninety-four percent of those battling COVID-19 in intensive care units (ICU) are not vaccinated.

Only 3% of those depending on ventilators are vaccinated, Ballad data showed. The rest of COVID-19 patients on ventilators — 97% — have yet to receive the shots.

Wednesday’s data did show a slight decrease in COVID-19 hospitalizations after Ballad previously reported its highest COVID-19 hospitalization count since the beginning of the pandemic.

The following is a breakdown of COVID-19 data provided by Ballad Health on Feb. 2:

• Total COVID-19 hospitalizations: 441 (-9)
• Total number of COVID-19 PUIs (patient under investigation): 6 (+4)
• Total COVID-19 admissions: 34 (-25)
• Total COVID-19 discharges: 53 (-9)
• COVID-19 patients in the Intensive Care Unit: 88 (+2)
• COVID-19 patients on a ventilator: 64 (+6)
• Pediatric patients in Niswonger Children’s Hospital: 9 (+1)

The health system used state-reported data to reveal that there have been 73 deaths in the region within the past seven days.

Nearly half of all novel coronavirus tests return positive, with the region’s positivity rate standing at 44.7%.