LOOKING AHEAD COVID will again be part of life in 2022 – Sunbury Daily Item

bbowman@dailyitem.com

Valley hospitals enter 2022 trying to balance care for patients, safety protocols and preventative medicine for non-COVID patients.

The new year starts with record numbers of COVID-19 cases across the United States and Pennslyvania. That means the coronavirus will be part of our lives well into the new year.

In early August, Valley hospitals were treating seven combined COVID-19 patients. As the calendar flips to 2022, there are 183, which is down from nearly 220 around Christmas.

Geisinger had been treating at least 100 COVID-19 patients every day in December at its main campus in Danville. At Evangelical Community Hospital, the number has hovered around 50 for nearly two months.

According to its COVID dashboard, about 1 in 4 people who test at Evangelical are coming up positive in the last two weeks.

In mid-December, Geisinger brought back its more strict visitor policies, allowing one visitor to be permitted per hospitalized adult patient.

We are reaching or exceeding capacity in some hospitals, Geisinger said in a release announcing the change. These guidelines protect the health and safety of our patients and staff. Having fewer visitors allows our staff to focus on treating our patients.

Statewide, more than 5,000 patients are hospitalized for COVID as the calendar flips. The last time the state Department of Health said more than 5,000 COVID patients were hospitalized statewide was nearly a year ago: Jan. 12, 2021. The number of patients hospitalized across Pennsylvania increased by more than 100 in each of the final five days of 2021, putting additional strain on hospitals that have been dealing with COVID for more than two years.

By Jan. 4, staffers at all Valley hospitals will be required to be vaccinated or tested regularly following an approved exemption.

Schools and universities will be dealing with COVID heading into the new year as well. Public schools in the Valley are scheduled to reopen on time on Monday when winter break ends. Last week, Penn State officials announced students will return for in-person classes on Jan. 10.

Bucknell and Susquehanna universities have not made similar announcements, yet, but students at Bucknell must have a booster shot before returning for the spring semester later this month.

Vaccines are available to people over the age of 5 and boosters have been approved for people as young as 15. In the coming days, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve boosters for individuals as young as 12.

Testing will be a big focus in 2022. Geisinger has appointments open for PCR testing at multiple sites across its system, while Evangelical has a no-appointment drive-thru location open for testing six days a week. Over-the-counter at-home tests are proving to be a little more difficult to come by, however, as demand and supply issues have limited availability in some areas.

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LOOKING AHEAD COVID will again be part of life in 2022 - Sunbury Daily Item