Coronavirus Hospitalizations Increasing In Philadelphia

Philadelphia PA

01 December, 2020

2:03 PM

Description

PHILADELPHIA — More and more people are being admitted to Philadelphia hospitals with the coronavirus than are being discharged, causing the city's health commissioner to raise concerns about strains on the healthcare system. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said Tuesday that 820 people are hospitalized in the city with the coronavirus. That figure increased from 672 last week. While those numbers are below the peak in spring when city hospitals had about 1,000 patients with the virus. Farley said he is concerned about city hospitals being strained by increased patients in the next two to three weeks, saying the city is among the "darkest days" of the pandemic. Statewide, Farley said more than 4,600 people are hospitalized with the virus. The previous week, Pennsylvania hospitals had 3,400 patients with the virus. While case counts are still high, Farley said the city is seeing signs of a decrease in new cases and hopes the trend will continue. Since Monday, 601 new cases were identified, bringing the total number of cases identified since March 10 to 67,025. Fifty-nine probable cases were also identified through rapid antigen tests. The week that ended Nov. 28 saw an average of 606 cases per day, which is a substantial decrease from 894 the week before. Of those tested the week ending Nov. 28, 9.5 percent tested were positive. The positivity rate is lower than the week before when it was 10.6 percent and 11.7 percent the week before that. Farley siad these are some of the highest rates of infection throughout the entire pandemic. However, testing decreased last week due to the holiday, which could lead to fewer cases being identified. Farley said it's still too early to say if Thanksgiving gatherings caused increased spread. Farley said those who did spend Thanksgiving inside without masks and with people from other households should stay away from others for 14 days due to potential exposure. Nine additional deaths were reported Tuesday. With those nine deaths, the city's total death toll is 1,985 total. The week of Nov. 15 saw 23 deaths and the week of Nov. 22 saw 18 deaths. Those figures are higher than the 10 per week reported in September, but fewer than the number of deaths that were predicted. Farley again said he's hopeful a vaccine will be available in a limited capacity by mid December and that healthcare workers who are routinely exposed to the virus will be given vaccine priority. Vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer are being reviews by the Food and Drug Administration. Both are touting a 95 percent effectiveness.