Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Penn State Health hospitals preparing for winter surge in cases
Penn State Health hospital officials are concerned that a winter spike in COVID-19 cases will hit Pennsylvania, but say they’re better able to treat those patients and others now than they were in the early months of the pandemic.
During a video call with reporters on Monday, officials spoke about how new daily cases of the virus are rising sharply statewide, a
trend it sees in its hospitals and outpatient clinics, including Penn State Health St. Joseph.
The number of cases now in Pennsylvania is similar to what it was in April, and Friday was the highest number yet with 2,219 new cases, according to the state health department.
“The rise definitely is concerning,” said Dr. Cynthia Whitener, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “It’s reminding us that this is not going away anytime soon. And it tells me and many others that a winter surge is likely.
“We obviously don’t know how large the winter surge will be. But it’s a reminder that we cannot wish a winter surge away. So people need to remain vigilant to keep themselves and others around them safe.”
Berks County was hit hard during the first spike in cases in the spring, and with Reading being the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania, the population here makes it likely Berks would
also have a lot of cases during a second wave, said Dr. Jeffrey Held, vice president for medical affairs, Penn State Health St. Joseph.
Cases of older patients increase
In the summer, many of the new COVID patients were younger, and most had less severe symptoms, but now there is an increasing number of older patients and those with underlying conditions who are getting sicker or dying from the virus, Whitener said.
She thinks that’s because more people are growing fatigued of social distancing
and being less careful even if they’re at higher risk from the virus.
Whitener urged the public to stay vigilant for their own sake and others, continuing to wash their hands frequently, avoiding gatherings, wearing masks, being especially cautious of distancing when indoors, not touching their faces, getting flu vaccines, keeping themselves healthy and staying home if they do get sick.
Penn State Hershey hospitals are now using diagnostic tests and therapeutic interventions for COVID patients that weren’t available months ago and are helping patients recover, said Dr. Peter Dillon, executive vice president and chief clinical officer.
And while the pandemic has made the treatment of non-COVID conditions more complicated, the hospitals are also now better at balancing the needs of those patients, he said.
That’s crucial, since hospital staff has seen numerous patients whose conditions — ranging from cancer to bad knees to cardiovascular problems — worsened when they were avoiding hospital visits, he said.
“You can’t just shut the hospital down, so to speak,” he said. “Part of what we’ve learned over the last eight months is that we can’t ignore all the other disease processes and medical conditions that people have, because they do advance,
they do change, and they can compromise outcomes once you have the opportunity to take care of them.”
The hospitals are working to add to their stockpiles
of personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and gowns, but while they’ve adjusted their supply chains to better do so, every other hospital is seeking the same equipment which makes it harder to get, he said.
Whitener said she’s concerned about what will happen when college semesters end and then resume, with students traveling back and forth and possibly spreading cases. It’s too early to say how big that problem could be, but it needs to be tracked, she said.
Dillon said he is also concerned about the merging of flu season with COVID spikes, since it’s unclear what will happen to patients who contract both viruses.
Flu vaccines are widely available, and therefore it’s important that people get them now, Held said.