Mount Nittany Medical Center reports record COVID-19 patient numbers, postpones some procedures

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Centre County reached a record level this week even as the overall case total fell.

The average number of COVID patients at Mount Nittany Medical Center this week was the highest it’s been during the pandemic, officials said on Dec. 17.

Mount Nittany was treating 57 COVID patients between the ages of 20 and 95, the health system said in a statement Dec. 17. Seven patients were in the intensive care unit and six were on ventilators, according to the dashboard. Forty of the 57 patients were not vaccinated. From Dec. 11-17, the total number of COVID patients at the 260-bed hospital reached a high of 74 on Dec. 14.

The average daily number of COVID patients this month is 61, and there have been 140 patients in all in December.

The high patient demand has led Mount Nittany Health to postpone elective surgeries requiring an overnight stay as well as endoscopy procedures through Jan. 5. Additionally, emergency department patients “can continue to expect considerably longer wait times than normal, sometimes hours,” officials said.

The hospital also changed its policy Dec. 11 to allow one visitor per patient between 2 and 6 p.m. each day.

“The current strain our hospital is experiencing is due to the high number of COVID inpatients, many of whom are very sick,” said Denelle Korin, a registered nurse at Mount Nittany and SEIU chapter president. “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.”

Centre Volunteers in Medicine will hold a “Super Saturday” vaccination event by appointment from 8 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m. Dec. 18 at Mount Nittany Middle School. Almost all of the openings were booked as of late in the afternoon of Dec. 17. Sign up for CVIM’s vaccine clinics at cvim.net/covid-information.

Mount Nittany Health is also providing COVID vaccines to the community. The health system administered more than 760 vaccinations on Dec. 15. Visit mountnittany.org/covid to sign up for a vaccine.

Centre County numbers

From Dec. 11-17, there were 569 reported cases of COVID-19 in Centre County — 25 fewer than the previous seven days.

As of Dec. 17, there have been a total of 24,301 cases (21,856 confirmed and 2,445 probable) along with 85,749 negative tests.

Six additional deaths were reported during the week to bring the county’s total to 273. So far this month, there have been 15 deaths, which is one more than all of November and the highest monthly total since February.

Tracking the cases

The largest number of cases in Centre County was again reported in the Bellefonte area, followed by State College and Philipsburg.

Between Dec. 10 and 17, there were four new cases at Benner state prison and five at Rockview, the state dashboard showed. Juniper Village at Brookline reported one new resident case during past four weeks, according to the nursing home dashboard.

Here’s a breakdown of the total number of confirmed cases in each ZIP code that is partially or fully in Centre County, according to the state Health Department. The number of cases reported between Dec. 10 and 17 is in parentheses.

• 16801 (State College): 6,775 (65)
• 16823 (Bellefonte/Pleasant Gap): 4,275 (122)
• 16803 (State College): 2,006 (45)
• 16686 (Tyrone): 1,946 (53)
• 16802 (University Park): 1,638 (11)
• 16866 (Philipsburg): 1,405 (42)
• 16870 (Port Matilda): 797 (16)
• 16841 (Howard): 749 (17)
• 16828 (Centre Hall): 516 (12)
• 16875 (Spring Mills): 510 (5)
• 16827 (Boalsburg): 466 (11)
• 16666 (Osceola Mills): 402 (15)
• 16844 (Julian): 387 (15)
• 16845 (Karthaus): 384 (12)
• 16822 (Beech Creek): 382 (7)
• 16853 (Milesburg): 205 (2)
• 16877 (Warriors Mark): 204 (3)
• 16874 (Snow Shoe): 196 (17)
• 16826 (Blanchard): 173 (7)
• 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 136 (5)
• 16854 (Millheim): 131 (2)
• 16820 (Aaronsburg): 130 (1)
• 16829 (Clarence): 125 (3)
• 16872 (Rebersburg): 109 (2)
• 16851 (Lemont): 93 (2)
• 16859 (Moshannon): 69 (5)
• 16832 (Coburn): 63 (0)
• 16677 (Sandy Ridge): 55 (5)
• 16860 (Munson): 46 (1)
• 16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 45 (2)
• 16856 (Mingoville): 37 (0)
• 16835 (Unionville): 36 (0)
• 16852 (Madisonburg): 35 (0)
• 16882 (Woodward): 26 (5)
• 16864 (Orviston): 15 (1)
• 16804 (State College): 13 (0)
• 16805 (State College): 1-4 (The state does not provide specific numbers when there are fewer than five cases to protect patient privacy.)

The picture in PA

Pennsylvania reported 55,856 cases during the past week, an increase of 1,353 over the previous seven days.

Overall, there have been 1,874,155 cases along with 6,009,011 negative tests. Statewide, 90% of people have recovered.

There have been 35,183 deaths, including 768 that were reported this week. That marks an increase from the prior week, when there were 669 fatalities.

Hospitalizations peaked during the week at close to 4,700, the highest they’ve been since January. The patient total dropped to 4,610 on Dec. 17, which marks an increase of about 670 since the start of December.

This story was originally published December 18, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Mount Nittany Medical Center reports record COVID-19 patient numbers, postpones some procedures."