There is fear and panic among unvaccinated hospitalized with covid-19

The causes of the increase in covid-19 cases in Florida 1:05

(CNN) -

Healthcare workers at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville in Florida are hearing panic, fear and regret from many of their patients as a growing number are admitted with complications from Covid-19, and many they need to be connected to fans.

"We're getting ready to intubate the patient, which means putting him on a respirator, and they say, 'If I get the vaccine now, can I avoid the respirator?'

So they're begging for it, "Nursing Director Tammy Daniel told CNN.

"They are desperate because they are short of air, they cannot breathe, they are scared, they feel that they are going to die," he added.

But by then, it is too late for a vaccine to stop your infection.

Baptist Medical Center has seen the number of Covid-19 patients multiply every day, Daniel said.

"We cannot open the beds fast enough to meet demand," he warned.

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Florida is one of 32 states where the average number of new cases in the past seven days increased by more than 50% from the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

But it is one of only two states in which all of its counties have a high transmission of covid-19.

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The increase is overwhelming at Baptist Medical Center, where 389 patients are being treated for COVID-19, an increase of about 50% from a week ago.

Of the new patients, 83 are on ventilators, struggling to survive.

Nursing director Tammy Daniel speaks with CNN at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville in Florida.

More than 99% of those patients are not vaccinated and the average age is around 50, said Baptist Health CEO Michael Mayo.

Many young patients with covid-19

Dr. Michelle Aquino said that many of the patients who become seriously ill are young.

Last week, he admitted a 19-year-old and a 25-year-old for COVID-19, both perfectly healthy before their infections, he said.

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"So you're seeing these healthy people walking around saying 'I don't need a vaccine, I'm fine, if I get covid I'll be fine,' and that's not true. With the delta variant we've really seen that that's not true," Aquino said.

Some patients said they were more concerned about the vaccines than the disease.

Now they say they regret not having received the vaccine sooner.

That fear of vaccines is especially frustrating, Aquino said, because there is still no meaningful and safe treatment for COVID-19.

"When patients are admitted, we are very honest with them. We say a lot about this, that we think it will help, we are not sure it will help, it could help, we hope it will help, but you are not sure and you take it day by day", Aquino said.

Everyone at Baptist Medical Center has lost patients to the virus in recent weeks, Aquino said, which has been an emotional toll for staff who know that most of these deaths could have been prevented.

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