ICU Beds Increasingly Scarce In Pittsburgh, Southwestern PA

PITTSBURGH, PA — With the omicron variant causing the latest spike in COVID-19 cases, intensive care beds in Allegheny County hospitals are nearly 90 percent full.

According to Pennsylvania Department of Health data, 531 adult ICU beds were occupied as of Tuesday, with 61 - or 11.5 percent- still available. Adult COVID-19 patients occupied 132 of the beds, accounting for nearly 25 percent of all ICU patients.

Forty-three COVID-19 patients were on ventilators.

Although omicron appears to be less severe than the delta variant, it still has the ability to overtax hospitals.

At the most recent county COVID-19 briefing last week, county Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen explained that if roughly 20 of every 1,000 delta cases required hospitalization and there were an average of 3,000 cases a week, that would result in an average of 60 hospitalizations per week.

If omicron results in only about seven of every 1,000 requiring hospitalization but there are 12,000 cases a week, that would result in 84 hospitalizations.

"Lower hospitalization rates won't necessarily spare our health care system," she said.

In other southwestern Pennsylvania counties, as of Tuesday:

• Butler County had just two ICU beds left; 37 percent of ICU patients have COVID-19.

• Beaver County had a single unoccupied ICU bed; 22 percent of ICU patients have COVID-19.

• Washington County had three ICU beds remaining; 43 percent of ICU patients have COVID-19.

• Westmoreland County had 27 ICU beds remaining; 22 percent of ICU patients have COVID-19.

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