COVID-19 News 10:29 pm
There are currently 21 COVID-19 positive inpatients at Mount Nittany Medical Center. This according to Officials who say those patients range from ages 31 to 86, with 118 COVID related admissions and an average daily census of 25 COVID positive inpatients so far this month.
By comparison, there was an average daily census of 18 COVID positive inpatients in March with 124 COVID related admissions. They say this months numbers are the highest they’ve seen since January, following the Holiday Season.
The National Institutes of Health says it’s testing a new, experimental drug in severely ill Coronavirus patients. The Phase 3 Clinical Trial includes patients hospitalized with life-threatening cases of COVID-19, including those with Acute Respiratory Failure. The trial will test the drug Zyesami and the antiviral Remdesivir both alone and in combination. The drugs will be tested for their safety and efficacy in hospitalized COVID-19 patients
Work on a major expansion of Mount Nittany Medical Center’s women and children’s services unit has resumed after being put on pause last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Joseph V. and Suzanne P. Paterno Women and Children’s Unit, the largest of its kind in the region, has dedicated medical and nursing teams serving women’s healthcare and pediatric patients and welcomes more than 1,300 newborns every year.
“This space is a celebration of new life and enhanced care for our community’s women and children,” Sue Paterno said in a statement. “I’m proud to be part of one of the many reasons Mount Nittany Health continues to be the best.”
The Centre Area Transportation Authority has proposed a number service changes to go into effect this fall, including eliminating four commuter bus routes and replacing three of them with the CATA Go microtransit service.
Public comment on the proposed changes can be made on the CATA website by emailing [email protected] or contacting CATA’s Customer Service Center at 814-238-2282. A virtual Community Input Meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 20, with log-in information available at catabus.com/proposed-fall-service. A public hearing will be held in late May before any changes are finalized.
If adopted, the proposed changes would go into effect on Aug. 21.
On Dec. 18, Mount Nittany Health doctors
administered the first COVID-19 vaccinations in Centre County. Starting with the State College-based health systems own direct care providers and staff, the effort soon expanded to other health care workers in the community.
Nearly four months later, as Pennsylvania’s eligibility guidelines have expanded, 48,651 people in Centre County have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and Mount Nittany has been the county’s largest single provider. It has administered more than 30,900 doses to community members and has another 5,000 future doses are scheduled. With Pennsylvania expanding eligibility to all adults by April 19 and production ramping up, many more are in the future.
Citing the rising number of cases of COVID-19 and increased hospitalizations due to the virus in the county, Centre County government workers will remain in full-remote work status for at least another two weeks. If numbers don’t stabilize, it could be even longer.
The county had hoped to move workers to a full-rotational model beginning the first week in April. During Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, County Administer Margaret Gray said she learned that day that COVID-19 hospitalizations had risen again at Mount Nittany Medical Center. She said the number of county workers who have needed to quarantine has also climbed.