MMC: COVID-19 starting to bump up a little

Sep. 14—As fall approaches, Crawford County is starting to report a slight rise in COVID-19 cases at its hospitals.

"We're definitely seeing an uptick compared to the summer, but we're nowhere near what it was last year," said Dr. Kevin Kraeling, medical director at Meadville Medical Center (MMC).

"The severity of the cases is a lot more mild compared to last year," he explained. "However, if you have a lot of underlying health issues — age extremes, other medical co-morbidities [conditions] — the virus can affect you way differently. It's primarily the elderly or those with underlying health issues that get to the level of needing to be in the hospital."

MMC currently has 13 inpatients with COVID at its Meadville facility, while its Titusville Area Hospital has three inpatients with the virus.

Patients with COVID are isolated from other areas of their respective hospitals and masking is required only in the isolation areas.

In the local COVID surge from October 2021 through February 2022, Meadville's hospital alone had more than 600 coronavirus inpatient admissions.

Kraeling pointed out that all of the current COVID patients weren't necessarily admitted because of the virus. COVID was discovered during routine admissions testing if the patient exhibited respiratory symptoms in addition to any other illness.

The recent bump in cases also has had an impact on MMC's medical and nursing staff in the past couple of weeks.

The increase in cases among staff was primarily centered on one nursing unit in connection with an outside-the-hospital event where some of the unit's workers had gathered, according to Kraeling.

"Right now, we've got 30 staff members out [at any point] with COVID, causing a little bit of a disruption to our processes, but it's going down," he said. "During the summer, we had only two to three staff out at any given time [with COVID]. At the height of the pandemic [in 2021-22], we had about 60 staff members out" at any point.

If COVID cases would start to increase, the hospitals would shift staff as necessary from outpatient services.

"It really would be day-by-day and put resources where they need to be to make sure we take the best care of the community," Kraeling said.

Kraeling thinks there is more COVID-19 in the community currently that's actually underreported due to the availability of home test kits for the virus.

"I bet a lot of it is not getting to the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] or the [Pennsylvania] Department of Health level of reportability," he said. "Any positive tests [for COVID-19] we do at the hospital, we're mandated to report that to the CDC and Department of Health."

On Wednesday, the CDC recommended everyone get an updated COVID vaccine as immunity from previous vaccinations and infections may be fading. Updated vaccine for the latest variant is available.

Doctors hope enough people get vaccinated to help avert another "tripledemic" like last year when hospitals were overwhelmed with an early flu season, an onslaught of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), and yet another winter coronavirus surge.

"One thing we've learned about COVID throughout the past few years is it's really unpredictable," Kraeling said.

He advises people to consult with their own physician about whether they should get a COVID booster.

Meadville already has had a least one confirmed case of influenza this season.

"Usually it correlates with Halloween like October, November," Kraeling said of the start of flu season in Crawford County. Flu season then runs until about mid-April to early May, he noted.

Kraeling advises people to try to assess themselves first about seeking the right level of care as waiting times in hospital emergency rooms are up a bit.

"If you feel sick, the most important thing is check yourself out," he said. "There are a lot of over-the-counter [test] kits, particularly for COVID. If it's just a COVID test or something that does not require the specialty care an emergency department can provide, consult with a family doctor or an urgent care. It will save you a lot of time in the long run."

But also, don't try to tough it out either.

"If you're short of breath, have severe chest pain, severe abdominal pain, any kind of trauma, you want to be in the emergency department," Kraeling said.

Universal precautions such as frequent hand washing and not sharing cups and utensils with family members who are sick are the best ways to prevent the spread of respiratory ailments like colds, flu, RSV and COVID-19, he added.

Keith Gushard can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.