Updated Jun 24, 2020; Posted Jun 24, 2020 By David
Wenner | dwenner@pennlive.com
A UPMC doctor on Wednesday said the number of people
hospitalized with COVID-19 within UPMC is the lowest in many weeks, and people
who test positive aren’t getting as sick.
Dr. Donald Yealy pointed out that is occurring even in
the midst of Pennsylvania’s reopening and the ongoing social justice protests.
He suggested the country is focusing too much on rising
COVID-19 case counts.
“We need to change our mindset and focus not exclusively
on the number of cases, but on the severity of illness. We shouldn’t just be
counting those who have a diagnosed infection,” Yealy said. “For the vast
majority of people testing positive, their illness is mild, or they don’t even
know they have any symptoms of COVID-19 infection.”
Yealy also said UPMC has tested more than 15,000 patients
who were receiving non-COVID-19 care, with only about one in 400 testing
positive. He said the rate, which has held steady for weeks, suggests that
aren’t many people carrying COVID-19 who don’t know it.
“In summary, what our experience shows is that fewer
people are being admitted, and when they are, they tend to be much less sick
than at the beginning or at the peak phases of the pandemic,” he said.
Yealy said the declines might result from factors such as
doing a good job of protecting the elderly and others who are highly
vulnerable, and a rising portion of new cases involving younger people who are
healthier and less likely to need hospitalization.
He also said UMPC has improved tools for helping the
sickest patients, including the drug Remdesivir, and has “gained experience in
how to best care for” COVID-19 patients. He noted that early in the pandemic,
doctors usually put the sickest patients on breathing ventilators. But UPMC
learned “it was difficult for them to successfully come off, and their outcomes
simply aren’t as good.”
Yealy said UPMC presently has only 14 patients on
ventilators across its 40 hospitals, which include six in Dauphin, Cumberland,
York and Lancaster counties.
Yealy said the lessening impact of COVID-19 might be
related to summer weather and people spending less time in close quarters.
However, Yealy and another UPMC official who spoke during
a briefing with reporters on Wednesday warned against disregarding the need for
face masks and other precautions to prevent spread of COVID-19.
Tami Minnier, UPMC’s chief quality officer, said “we need
to stay vigilant. We need to be able to continue wearing our masks, wearing our
masks appropriately, washing your hands frequently, using social distancing.
Despite all of the points that Dr. Yealy made, that is our plan going forward
for keeping all of us safe.”
Yealy said it’s important for younger people who don’t
get very sick from COVID-19 to understand the danger it poses for others.
“We’re not saying go out and do whatever you want. Be
smart about it. Use the hand washing. Wear the mask, distance [yourself] if
you’re going to visit elderly relatives or immunocompromised friends. Those are
still important. That’s the smart public health that we still need to be
vigilant about,” he said.
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