COVID-19 cases remain high, but few Erie County residents are seriously ill

David Bruce, Erie Times-News
·3 min read
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Erie County continues to see a stubbornly high number of COVID-19 cases this summer, but there is encouraging news about those most at-risk of serious complications from the virus.

No county residents with COVID-19 have been placed on a ventilator since July 25, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. It's the longest period of time without a ventilated COVID-19 patient since August 2021.

In addition, only one COVID-19 death has been reported in the county since late June.

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"This version of omicron (BA.5), and omicron in general, is not as severe as previous variants," said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., director of community health services for the Erie County Department of Health. "It shows the vaccines are working. People with the lowest risk of getting seriously ill are those up to date with their vaccines."

It's not that COVID-19 has subsided. The county's weekly number of newly confirmed cases rose from 339 between July 27-Aug. 2 to 367 between Aug. 3-9, the state health department reported.

The number has increased for three straight weeks.

"And those are just the reported cases," Berringer said. "Many more go unreported. Looking at the amount of virus in (Erie) wastewater testing, there is a lot more virus out there."

COVID-19 cases remain high in Erie County, much higher than even the reported number of cases, said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., director of community health services for the Erie County Department of Health.
COVID-19 cases remain high in Erie County, much higher than even the reported number of cases, said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., director of community health services for the Erie County Department of Health.

The latest report on COVID-19 testing at the Erie Wastewater Treatment Plant show more virus than at any time since late January, toward the end of the first omicron surge.

"(It indicates) much more widespread infection in the county than measured by clinical testing," Howard Nadworny, M.D., a Saint Vincent Hospital infectious diseases specialist and county health department adviser, said in an email.

Erie County sees steady COVID-19 hospitalization numbers

COVID-19 hospitalizations have remained relatively steady this summer. The 14-day moving daily average of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 has been between 17 and 27 since June 21, the state health department reported.

Many of those patients remain people admitted for other reasons but then test positive for COVID-19, hospital officials have said.

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Those admitted because of COVID-19 tend to be older than 70 with other chronic health conditions, Saint Vincent president Christopher Clark, D.O., said last week.

"What we're seeing now is COVID acting more like the flu," Clark said. "The complication is more of a secondary consequence of the virus, like pneumonia is with the flu, instead of the body's initial response like it was earlier in the pandemic."

COVID-19 positivity rate nears 25% in Erie County

Here is a look at the county's other COVID-19 measurements between July 27-Aug. 2 and Aug. 3-9, according to the state health department:

  • The rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents increased from 125.7 to 136.1.

  • The positivity rate for COVID-19 tests rose from 22.6% to 24.5%.

  • The average daily number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 declined from 23.1 to 21.6.

  • The percentage of emergency department visits due to COVID-19 symptoms increased from 0.9% to 1.1%.

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County's COVID-19 case numbers remain high but none on ventilators