News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville Regional seeing some of the lowest COVID patient numbers in weeks.
As of Tuesday morning, the hospital had some 31 patients in its facility. CEO Paul Korth said that he attributes this to the omicron variant running its course.
“We’re hoping that we’re starting to trend down,” Korth said. “I’ve been in contact with hospitals throughout the state from West Tennessee, to East Tennessee, and we’re starting to see statewide that these numbers are starting to come down. So we’re hoping that this trend continues for us also.”
Korth said that national predictions all indicated that sometime in early to mid-February numbers would start to decline. He said that being in a more rural area, trends typically follow about two weeks behind. Korth said that’s what we’re seeing now.
However, Korth said that there are also many more people who have been vaccinated.
“But along with the vaccinations and several people getting the omicron variant, we’re hoping that it gets to some kind of herd immunity,” Korth said.
Korth said that in regards to visitation guideline updates, they are still watching the numbers to decide when to make changes. He said that they evaluate those on a daily basis.
