PITTSBURGH — University of Pittsburgh Medical Center doctors shared promising news about COVID-19 in our area during a news conference on Wednesday.
“Currently, we have half the number of people hospitalized that we had at the peak of the pandemic” said Dr. Donald Yealy, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC.
Yealy said system wide, they are at the lowest numbers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients since early April.
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“As we and others increase testing, looking for all types of people who might have the virus, we do expect to see increases in numbers of people who have the virus contracted,” Yealy said.
UPMC doctors expects that often in younger and healthier people, and are seeing that trend across the country.
For the vast majority of people testing positive, there are little to no symptoms.
Yealy said people who don’t know they have the virus is around 1 in 400, a number that’s been stable for weeks.
Doctors said UPMC has done well over 44,000 tests, and more than 15,000 have been in people who have no symptoms.
Positive cases here and across the country are rising, but morality rates are dropping.
“This indicates people in our communities who are the most vulnerable to the disease are better protected now and those getting it now tend to be the ones who recover well or show little signs of infection,” Yealy said.
This good news contributes to a number of factors: People washing hands, staying home when sick, social distancing and wearing masks.
“This virus, like many other coronaviruses, may change with the seasons. The increase in humidity in Western and Central PA, coupled with fewer people that are in crowded indoor settings, may slow the spread,” Yealy said.
Right now, UPMC has the lowest number of COVID-19 patients on a ventilator since the beginning of the pandemic with only 14 patients.
“What our experience shows is that fewer patients are being admitted, and when they are, they tend to be much less sick than beginning or peak of pandemic,” Yealy said.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows rapid decline in emergency department visits, including those for serious and life-threatening conditions like heart attack and stroke.
“It indicates people are avoiding the hospital because of their fears of coming in contact with COVID-19,” Yealy said.
Yealy stressed that people that have a medical emergency to come to the hospital and said they are safe.
Tami Minnier, the chief quality officer of UPMC, spoke about the preparation for this year’s flu season
“As we do not know what the fall or winter bring, we are preparing for whatever might come,” Minnier said. “That means growing our supply of personal protective equipment, masks, gloves, face shields…”
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