Erie County sees spike in new COVID-19 cases but hospitalizations continue to decline
Erie County's number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases rose by 64% last week, an indication that the more transmissible omicron subvariants have arrived in the area.
The county's weekly total increased from 72 cases reported April 8-14 to 118 cases reported April 15-21. The total remains well below the height of January's omicron peak but spurred local health officials to remind people that the pandemic hasn't ended.
"You'll recall that the delta variant was around for a couple of months before case counts and hospitalizations surged," said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., director of community health services for the Erie County Department of Health. "People are moving around and gathering together, and many of them are either unvaccinated or haven't had a booster shot."
Erie County's increase comes as newer versions of the omicron variant spread across the country, causing case totals to spike in upstate New York and a few other counties in the northeastern United States. These newer versions account for 93% of all COVID-19 cases tested in a region of the country that includes Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
More: Erie County could be entering endemic phase of COVID-19 despite uptick in new cases
The good news is that while these subvariants are more transmissible than original omicron, which is more transmissible than previous COVID-19 variants, they don't appear to cause significantly more hospitalizations or deaths.
In fact, COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, which often lag behind new case trends, continue to decline in Erie County.
Only one COVID-19 death has been reported to have occurred in April and the average daily number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 declined last week from 20.3 to 19.1, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported.
Many of those patients were admitted for non-COVID reasons, and later tested positive for the virus or developed minor symptoms.
"We still see some patients who are critically ill with COVID but most of them are asymptomatic or show mild symptoms," said Nancy Weissbach, M.D., a Saint Vincent Hospital infectious diseases specialist.
In addition, the amount of COVID-19 virus found in samples taken last week from the Erie Wastewater Treatment Plant declined slightly, from the equivalent of about 350 cases a week to around 200.
They key to preventing serious illness from these new omicron variants is to stay up to date on your COVID-19 vaccinations, Weissbach said.
"The COVID vaccine is still considered extremely effective at preventing hospitalizations and death," Weissbach said. "Getting your initial series of two vaccinations, plus a third shot four months later, is very important."
Vaccinations have increased slightly in the county over the past few weeks, boosting the county's rate of fully vaccinated residents to 58.3%. But only 29.1% of all county residents have received a booster dose, the county Health Department reported.
More: Erie County sees viral surge, but it's not COVID-19
Here is a look at the rest of the county's COVID-19 measurements between April 8-14 and April 15-21 from the state Health Department:
The rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents rose from 26.7 to 43.7.
The COVID-19 test positivity rate increased from 4.5% to 6.8%.
The average daily number of COVID-19 patients requiring ventilators decreased from 0.4 to 0.3.
The percentage of emergency department visits due to COVID-19 symptoms declined from 1.9% to 1.7%.
Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: COVID-19 cases spike in Erie County but hospitalizations decline
