COVID Weekly update for December 17, 2021

December 17, 2021
COVID-19
5 min read

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As the health system makes daily operational adjustments and curtails services, emergency department visitors can expect to experience longer wait time.

This week, Mount Nittany Medical Center recorded the highest average number of COVID positive patients during any time over the last 22 months of the pandemic.

Today, the Medical Center is caring for 57 COVID patients ranging in age from 20 to 95. The average number of daily patients in December is 61 and the total number of patients in December is 140

Mount Nittany Health continues to make real-time operational adjustments due to high demand for care. Elective surgeries requiring an overnight stay and endoscopy procedures are being postponed through January 5. Community members seeking care at the emergency department can continue to expect considerably longer wait times than normal, sometimes hours. In addition to operational adjustments, the visitation policy changed on December 11 to one designated visitor per patient, per day, between the visiting hours of 2:00 – 6:00 pm daily. The complete visitation guidelines are on the patient information page of mountnittany.org.

Tuesday night, Mount Nittany Health’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Tom Charles, spoke to the Centre County Board of Commissioners providing providing insight into the region’s interrelated health system challenges.  

“We’ve been in a very challenging stretch because the level of COVID transmission in the community has continued to be high,” says Charles. “We also continue to face unprecedented challenges in placing patients who are ready for discharge to less acute settings. We would not have nearly the magnitude of challenges that we have if we were talking about the number of hospitalized vaccinated patients. It is far and away the large number of unvaccinated individuals. Our providers and staff, who have been at this with intensity for nearly two years, are doing an incredible job, but they need a break.”

With the dramatic surge in hospitalizations, especially in recent weeks, Mount Nittany Health administration, physicians, and staff are uniting their fight against COVID and ask the community to join them and do their part to help.

“The current strain our hospital is experiencing is due to the high number of COVID inpatients, many of whom are very sick,” said Mount Nittany Medical Center Registered Nurse, and SEIU Chapter President Denelle Korin.  “The intensity of care needed to treat them is very high.  It simply takes more people and resources to get them well again. We will continue to work together in the fight against COVID-19 in our community, but we need relief-- and we ask everyone to do their part by getting vaccinated, masking, and social distancing.”

Supported by Mount Nittany Health, Centre Volunteers in Medicine (CVIM) will host a "Super Saturday” vaccination event from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. at Mount Nittany Middle School. A limited number of time slots are still available. Please make appointments through the CVIM website

Mount Nittany Health also continues to offer COVID vaccination opportunities for community members, having provided 764 vaccinations on Wednesday, December 15th. Please visit mountnittany.org to register for a Pfizer BioNTech vaccine or booster dose.

Importantly, if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or believe you have been exposed to someone who is COVID positive, then please isolate yourself from others and seek testing. Visit our patient information page of mountnittany.org to learn more.

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