The outside of Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center is seen in this file photo. For the first time since Oct. 14, Geisinger says fewer than 65 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 across their health system.
Times Leader file photo
For the first time since Oct. 14, Geisinger says fewer than 65 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 across their health system.
As of Thursday, a release from Geisinger says, only 63 patients are currently hospitalized, part of the ongoing steady decline in hospitalizations with the disease.
It’s the lowest level seen since mid-October, and it’s down from a high of more than 350 patients in late December.
Geisinger says that, on average for the past two weeks, one new COVID-19 patient is admitted every four hours, which is about a quarter of the rate seen in December.
While this is certainly good news, Geisinger does recommend caution: they say that this data is similar to the time right before the start of the second surge, “signaling that it is still far too early to let our guard down,” the release says.
Geisinger says that the lower numbers of COVID-19 patients means the healthcare company has been able to resume “near-normal” levels of services and that the company is reaching out to patients whose non-emergent surgeries previously had to be postponed.
“Seeing more of our operating rooms in use following this winter’s COVID surge is encouraging and is another positive step in the right direction,” Jaewon Ryu, M.D., J.D., Geisinger president and chief executive officer, said in the release. “But while hospitalizations are declining now, we still have a significant number of people sick enough to be in the hospital, and that continues to concern us.”
Geisinger goes on to say that it has administered 14,000 tests over the past two weeks, and that the average positivity rate is about 8%, down from about 20% in early January.
In other vaccine news, Geisinger says scheduling for first dose appointments remains suspended as Geisinger is working to complete previously scheduled appointments that were affected by severe winter weather and supply shortages. More than 40,000 appointments were affected over the past few weeks. Second doses were given priority to ensure they were still administered within the CDC’s recommended 42-day window.
