(WAND) - Hospitals in central Illinois are filling up as a post-Thanksgiving surge leaves many with severe cases of COVID-19.

In Region 6, which includes Macon and Champaign counties, there are just 20 ICU beds available.

"A lot of patients are dying. We are not in good shape nowadays, it's really bad," said Dr. Imtiaz Bangash, who has been working in the COVID-19 unit of St. Mary's Hospital throughout the pandemic.

He's treated hundreds of patients over the past 20 months, but some faces he'll never forget.

"The patient was young, and he died actually, and I took care of that patient for almost 7 to 10 days," Bangash said as he described a COVID-19 patient that passed away just a few days ago.

In the past two weeks, Bangash said he's started treating more young COVID-19 patients with more severe symptoms.

"When he was in shape that he could talk, he himself told me, I wish that I was vaccinated," Bangash explained.

The doctor said most of his patients are not vaccinated and regret that decision as they fight for their lives in the ICU.

"Vaccination is the best prevention, the best treatment. I would strongly recommend for everyone to get vaccinated, to protect your family, to protect your children and to protect your community," Bangash added.

He said the COVID-19 wing at St. Mary's is starting to feel like it did in past surges, and his team is feeling the burnout.

"They are dying, they're suffering, so everyone is so frustrated. We have exhausted our resources," Bangash explained.

The ICU is now full at St. Mary's most days, but doctors said its still important to come to the hospital if you have severe symptoms.

"Because if we treat you early, a patient can get better and go home. Rather than waiting for a long period of time for two weeks, when you have your lung already damaged," Bangash added.

He expects this grueling work to get worse after the holidays, but said staff will continue to save as many lives as they can.

"They come every day, they work every day knowing the disease conditions, we know people are dying, but still, they are fighting this monster every day," Bangash added.

Doctors at St. Mary's said they are using mostly Remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies to treat coronavirus patients. They hope to soon have access to more experimental drugs to help save lives.