Mount Nittany Medical Center had suspended certain procedures through Jan. 5. But are they resuming?
Mount Nittany Medical Center announced in mid-December that it needed to suspend select surgeries and procedures through Jan. 5 — but, a day after that deadline, the hospital has so far declined to publicly confirm or address whether such procedures are actually set to resume.
Last month, as daily hospitalized COVID patients hovered around 57, Centre County’s lone hospital announced high patient demand meant it needed to postpone both elective surgeries requiring an overnight stay and endoscopy procedures. On Wednesday, the number of hospitalized COVID patients stood at 46, with three in the ICU.
The Centre Daily Times reached out to Mount Nittany on Wednesday, and again Thursday, to confirm those procedures were set to resume as planned since no statement was issued otherwise. Spokesperson Melissa Case declined to give a firm answer Wednesday evening, instead saying, “We are working on updating this information, and we will include it in the media statement Friday.”
She did not respond to another request for clarification on Thursday morning. The latest information on Mount Nittany Health’s website about elective surgeries appears to be from a Dec. 30 update, indicating the procedures were postponed through Jan. 5.
The CDT received an email Wednesday from a person claiming to be a patient, saying the wait for hearing back has been “painful.” They emailed the CDT again later Wednesday, saying they received word by the afternoon their future surgery was again being postponed.
Still, until Friday, it appears there will be no definitive confirmation from Mount Nittany.
For more than a week now, daily hospitalizations have remained under 50 — a considerable drop from the average of 57 throughout December. But, last week, even a Mount Nittany Health official acknowledged such relief might be short-lived.
“We do anticipate an even greater increase in cases following the holidays with more hospitalizations to follow,” Dr. Upendra Thaker, chief medical officer, said as part of a written statement.
Increased hospitalizations typically trail an increase in cases by several weeks, and Centre County has not been immune to the national trend of the surging omicron variant, which is now estimated to be responsible for more than 95% of coronavirus cases. Over the last two weeks, new daily COVID-19 cases have more than tripled nationally. Locally, Centre County has added 1,572 new cases over this past week, from Dec. 30 to Jan. 5, more than double the weekly total of 656 cases from this time a month ago.
Columbia University researchers projected last week that a national peak in cases could occur the week beginning this Sunday.
Preliminary data suggests the omicron variant might cause less severe illness in healthy adults, but concerns remain about the strain on the county’s 260-bed hospital. On the night of Dec. 2, with 53 hospitalized COVID patients, Mount Nittany Medical Center was forced to stop accepting ambulances if the patient’s condition allowed, instead diverting them elsewhere, “due to an overwhelming number of patients seeking emergency care,” according to the Southern Alleghenies EMS Council.
The hospital began accepting ambulances again the next morning. Still, the hospital continues to experience strain with higher-than-usual wait times in the emergency department.
Last week, the medical center urged “continued caution amid high numbers of COVID infection rates in the community.”
