Here’s why Mount Nittany Medical Center is resuming some elective procedures ahead of schedule
Less than two weeks after scaling back services, Mount Nittany Medical Center announced Tuesday that it will resume some elective surgeries and procedures because local COVID-19 hospitalizations have continued to fall from their December peak.
According to the hospital, elective procedures that require overnight stays will continue to be postponed through the end of January. But some of those that do not require overnight stays may go forward, which has not been the case the last two weeks.
All the previous safety protocols, such as requiring testing of patients, will continue.
“We continue to monitor on a daily basis, and we will make adjustments as needed to serve our COVID positive inpatients and those needing us for acute and surgical care,” Dr. Nirmal Joshi, Mount Nittany Health’s chief medical officer, said in a written statement.
On Dec. 30, Mount Nittany announced that it was canceling all elective procedures through January after the number of daily COVID-19 positive inpatients spiked past 70 some days. On Dec. 30, there were 60 such inpatients during the midnight census, a pattern that Joshi labeled “alarming” as the hospital was pushed closer to its limits.
Since then, however, the numbers have continued to fall. On Tuesday, Mount Nittany reported 42 COVID-19 positive inpatients, between the ages of 28 and 99, with an average daily census of 44 such patients over the past week. That’s a 22% decrease from the 57 average patients two weeks ago.
That doesn’t mean it’s time for residents to celebrate, and it’s possible the worst may not yet be over for the pandemic. But the drop is still welcome news for a health system facing unprecedented challenges.
Joshi emphasized Tuesday that Centre County residents must continue to be careful.
“Even with vaccines gradually being administered, everyone needs to continue taking the precautions we’ve all been talking about: wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands and avoiding large gatherings,” he said. “It is impossible to predict how long COVID will be with us, what levels of infection we’ll see going forward and how long it will take before most of the population can be vaccinated.”
According to the state Department of Health, Centre County added 55 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of county cases since the pandemic’s start to 9,840 — most of which have occurred over the last five months.
