Mount Nittany to Resume Some Elective Surgeries on Monday

After weeks of postponements because of high COVID-19 hospitalizations, Mount Nittany Medical Center will resume elective surgeries requiring an overnight stay “on a limited basis” beginning Monday, according to a statement from the hospital on Friday night.

All endoscopy procedures also will resume on Monday.

“The Medical Center continues to monitor the local and regional surge in COVID-19 cases and make real time operational adjustments to meet patient demand,” the statement said. “While some services are reopening, community members may continue to experience longer than normal wait times when using the emergency department.”

As a surge in COVID-19 cases, emergency department visits and hospitalizations began in late November and early December, the hospital first postponed elective surgeries on a day-to-day basis, then through Dec. 20. By the middle of the month all elective surgeries requiring overnight admission and all endoscopy procedures were postponed through Jan. 5.

Mount Nittany’s visitation policy remains one designated visitor per patient daily between 2 and 6 p.m.

Postponement of elective surgeries and changes to visitation were among several measures implemented by Mount Nittany officials as the medical center strained under the weight of unprecedented circumstances. Overnight from Dec. 2 to 3, the hospital became so overwhelmed it had to divert ambulances from the emergency department for about 12 hours. The night of Dec. 13, Mount Nittany had 76 COVID-19 inpatients, the most of any point during the pandemic.

Centre County ended December with 3,264 new COVID-19 cases, its most in a month since the start of the pandemic, and Mount Nittany had an average daily census of 57 COVID-positive inpatients, also a pandemic high.

Since reaching a peak in mid-December, local COVID-19 hospitalizations have gradually fallen. At 5 p.m. on Friday, Mount Nittany had 43 COVID-positive inpatients ranging in age from 25 to 90. About 73% were not vaccinated.

For Centre County’s only hospital, that remains an “elevated” number of inpatients. The county and state, meanwhile, continue to see record-shattering numbers of new cases in early January, and throughout Pennsylvania COVID-19 hospitalizations have been at their highest level of the pandemic for the past two days, with 6,680 COVID inpatients statewide on Friday.

“We are coming out from the holiday period, and we do expect case numbers to remain elevated in the coming weeks and potentially increase even more,” Dr. Upendra Thaker, Mount Nittany Medical Center’s chief medical officer, said in a statement. “Schools and universities are returning from winter break which will likely lead to continued community spread.”

The surge in cases has been driven by the more highly contagious omicron variant of the virus, which now makes up 95% of the cases in the United States sequenced by the Centers for Disease Control. While preliminary data suggests omicron often causes less severe illness in healthy adults, individuals with higher rates of comorbidities such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes could experience more severe illness, hospitalization or death, Thaker said.

Getting vaccinated, Thaker added, is key to reducing the severity of illness.

Mount Nittany officials also urged community members to help slow the virus surge by avoiding large gatherings, wearing a mask, washing their hands and, if they are already vaccinated, to get the booster.

Vaccination appointments through Mount Nittany Health, Centre Volunteers in Medicine and through other pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov. CVIM and Penn State also will host a vaccine clinic for ages 12 and older from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center

All individuals age 12 and older are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot.

Individuals who experience symptoms like fever, cough, chills, soar throat, body aches, headaches and/or loss of taste or smell, should seek testing and isolate from others, according to a Mount Nittany release.

Free testing sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Health is available 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority, 253 Transfer Road. Other community-based testing locations sites can be found through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.