COVID-19 admissions near all-time high with more than 150 total at 2 Erie hospitals
Erie's two largest hospitals admitted about as many COVID-19 patients last week as they did during the worst week of last year's initial surge.
Now officials with UPMC Hamot and Saint Vincent Hospital are worried that a post-Thanksgiving surge in COVID-19 cases could send even more patients to the hospital, like it did in 2020.
"Our concern is that we just had a holiday and last December we saw a post-Thanksgiving surge," said Emily Shears, vice president of quality for UPMC in northwestern Pennsylvania and New York. "And our numbers are already pretty high."
Saint Vincent reported 86 COVID-19 patients last week, its highest weekly total since the pandemic started. Hamot reported 72 COVID-19 admissions last week, one of its highest totals during the pandemic.
The 14-day moving average of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county increased Wednesday to 120.9 patients. The county's all-time high is 122.6 on Dec. 18, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Saint Vincent recently reopened its fourth COVID-19 unit to meet the increased demand, and has limited and rescheduled more elective procedures and surgeries to free up staff and hospital beds.
Hamot has also rescheduled procedures as recently as Monday.
"We are limiting the number of these cases, such as bariatric surgeries and joint-replacement surgeries for patients who would need an overnight stay," said Christopher Clark, D.O., Saint Vincent president. "It's not because the ORs are filled, it's about hospital beds."
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Both Shears and Clark said their hospitals can accommodate more patients, should COVID-19 hospitalizations increase.
Flu cases start to increase in Erie County
The hospitals are also keeping watch on a slow rise in flu cases. Hamot and Saint Vincent were nearly full with patients just before the COVID-19 pandemic started due to a severe 2019-20 flu season.
Only 19 flu cases were reported last year in Erie County, as mask wearing and social distancing for COVID-19 curtailed flu's ability to spread, county health officials have said. It was the county's lowest number of cases since flu became a reportable disease in 2003.
This fall, with the easing of COVID-19 mitigation measures, Erie County has already reported 31 flu cases. Hamot has seen two flu patients and Saint Vincent has seen four.
None of them have been admitted to the hospital.
"There have been no hospitalizations of deaths due to flu so far this season," said Melissa Lyon, county Health Department director. "None of the cases have involved people 65 or older."
Most COVID-19 patients still unvaccinated
Though Hamot and Saint Vincent continue to see breakthough cases of COVID-19 among their patients, a majority of those admitted are unvaccinated.
About 75% of Saint Vincent's COVID-19 patients and 80% of Hamot's have not been vaccinated. Hamot has not admitted any patients due to COVID-19 who were at least two weeks past their booster dose.
"We've had a couple of patients admitted who had their boosters," Clark said. "Both of them were immunocompromised people and both were later discharged."
Lyon said it's too early to tell what effect the vaccines will have on the omicron variant.
No cases with the omicron variant have been found in the United States as of Tuesday. Only a small portion of Erie County's confirmed COVID-19 cases are tested by Pennsylvania Department of Health to determine the variant.
"We have a lot to learn about this variant," Lyon said. "It seems to be as transmissible or more than delta. It's definitely a threat and (higher numbers of) COVID cases could be with us longer than expected."
Hospitalizations increase: Erie County's COVID-19 case count drops slightly but hospitalizations, deaths surge
New cases of COVID-19 have declined in the county since Thanksgiving, though Lyon and Clark said that could be due to less testing over the holiday weekend.
The county Health Department on Wednesday reported 160 new cases and six more deaths due to COVID-19. It reported 139 cases on Tuesday, 150 on Monday and 112 on Sunday.
A total of 593 county residents have died from COVID-19 complications.
Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie hospitals: COVID-19 admissions near all-time high
