COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations continue to rise in Erie County; 10 deaths reported last week

Erie County's unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases continued last week, spurred by the highly transmissible omicron variant.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 3,302 newly confirmed cases in the county from Jan. 7-13. It was almost 500 more cases than the previous week, which had been — by far — the highest weekly number of new cases since the pandemic's start.

COVID-19 hospitalizations also rose significantly in the county last week, from a daily average of 94.1 patients to 123.6. Besides the increase in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the county also reported 10 additional deaths last week.

The increase in hospitalizations is happening even though health officials agree the omicron variant is not as virulent as previous COVID-19 variants.

"The case counts are so high that even though omicron appears to be less virulent, we are seeing more patients with COVID in the hospital," said Christopher Clark, D.O., Saint Vincent Hospital president. "Many of them are older or have multiple comorbidities."

Saint Vincent Hospital is seeing a spike in COVID-19 patients despite the fact that the omicron variant appears less virulent, said Saint Vincent President Christopher Clark, D.O.,
Saint Vincent Hospital is seeing a spike in COVID-19 patients despite the fact that the omicron variant appears less virulent, said Saint Vincent President Christopher Clark, D.O.,

Despite the increase in COVID-19 patients, Erie and Meadville hospital leaders said they are not close to entering into crisis care.

It's a designation hospitals elsewhere in the country have adopted in recent days that allows them — among other measures — to expand the roles of nonphysicians, create patient-care areas in locations like cafeterias and corridors and use a triage system to decide which patients receive aggressive medical care.

"The demand for COVID-19 services has increased recently. Yes, the omicron variant is less intense, but there is so much more transmission that the overall demand (for hospital care) has risen," said Donald Yealy, M.D., UPMC's chief medical officer. "We are able to flex our leadership and capability ... and we have never been unable to meet the community's demand."

More: Erie, Meadville hospitals plan to follow federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate

"During the high patient volume times of this pandemic, we have been able to follow our surge plan, and provide back-up staffing in all areas of the hospital, as well as control care utilization through tactics like spreading out the scheduling of patient procedures," Clark said.

"Through the efforts of a committed workforce, Meadville Medical Center remains committed to serving our community and will make any operational adjustments to successfully navigate the ongoing pandemic. However, at this time there has been no consideration for 'crisis care,'" MMC officials said in an email.

More: Erie hospitals see COVID-19 admissions approach record levels

Hamot and Saint Vincent still haven't needed to reopen their fourth COVID units, which they closed in December.

Another spike in cases among children

This past week's surge in new COVID-19 cases was once again fueled in part by a significant rise in cases among children.

There were 937 cases reported from Jan. 5-11 among county residents 19 and younger, according to the state Health Department. It's an increase from 502 cases reported the previous week and 190 cases two weeks ago.

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Here is a look at the rest of the county's COVID-19 measurements between Dec. 31-Jan. 6 and Jan. 7-13 from the state Health Department:

  • The incidence rate of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents increased from 1,047.7 to 1,224.2.

  • The COVID-19 test positivity rate rose from 36.1% to 39.5%.

  • The average daily number of COVID-19 patients requiring ventilators rose from 4.6 to 9.6.

  • The percentage of emergency department visits due to COVID-19 symptoms declined from 2.6% to 1.8%.

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County: COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations still rising