COVID-19 cases climbing in county
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to climb in Washington County, where there has been a 38% increase in average cases per day from the average two weeks ago.
The number of average new cases in the county in November has been the highest since December 2020.
“Overall, we are as bad as, or worse than where we were in November 2020,” said Washington Health System Chief Operating Officer Dr. John Six. “We are certainly in a surge right now.”
Washington Hospital and WHS Greene treated about the same number of COVID-19 patients through November 2021 – 180 patients – as it did in November 2020, when it treated 185 patients.
But, overall the health system has seen a 5% to 10% increase in the number of patients in the past two weeks of November 2021 compared to the same two-week period in 2020, which Six attributed to people being hospitalized for non-coronavirus health issues such as heart failure or pneumonia.
In Washington County, about 96% of hospitals ICU beds are filled, with 63% of those beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, according to COVID Act Now.
At WHS, where the ICU was near capacity on Tuesday, 45 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 and and 29% of those patients were in the ICU.
“This is certainly as bad as we’ve seen it in the last year,” said Six.
One of the concerns is that the most recent surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Southwestern Pennsylvania – which has seen cases climb steadily since July – is further straining a health care work force exhausted by the relentless demands of the pandemic.
Like health systems across the country, WHS has been faced with staffing shortages, as hospital workers leave the healthcare field for jobs in non-medical fields.
“We’ve seen almost two years of stress and strain on the system and staffing,” said Six. “Staffing issues continue to be on top of mind.”
Six predicts local hospitals will see a spike in coronavirus cases following a busy Thanksgiving travel weekend, and the Christmas travel season is expected to be heavy.
Health officials, too, are waiting to see how the omicron variant behaves: Does it cause more serious illness, and is it resistant to the vaccines?
“There are lots of unknowns heading into Christmas,” said Six.
Six urged those who aren’t vaccinated to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He also encourages people who got vaccinated to get their booster.
Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that unvaccinated people are more than twice as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than vaccinated people, and they’re more than seven times as likely to die from the disease.
“The vaccines do protect against significant disease, they’re effective, and they’re safe,” said Six. “We have better monoclonal antibodies, we have better inpatient treatments, we have a significant amount of PPE, and we’re doing a better job of managing patients. But the silver lining is, we have the vaccines. It’s important to get vaccinated, or to get the booster.”
At WHS, about 70% of COVID patients aren’t vaccinated.
Six said the average age of COVID patients at WHS dropped from 68 1/2 years old to 63 years old from November 2020 to November 2021.
The health system is seeing younger, unvaccinated patients getting sicker and staying in the hospital longer.
In Washington County, 428 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded since the start of the pandemic, including eight new deaths from Nov. 24 to 29.
In Fayette County, 458 people have died from COVID-19; in Greene County, 65 coronavirus deaths have been reported.
As families plan holiday get-togethers, Six advises them to “do all of the things we’ve been doing for the last 20 months or so” – get vaccinated, wear masks, and social distance.
“It’s a rough time right now,” said Six, “but we as a health care system are doing everything we can to continue to serve the patients in our community.”