UPMC Seeing Decrease In Coronavirus Patients

PITTSBURGH, PA - Western Pennsylvania's largest health care network is seeing fewer new coronavirus patients, and those that are admitted to its hospitals are almost exclusively from assisted living facilities.

Dr. Steven Shapiro, UPMC chief medical and scientific officer, said that while UPMC saw a steady stream of patients during the coronavirus outbreak's peak, its hospitals never experienced a crippling surge. Shapiro provided that information during a virtual roundtable convened by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey to explore the issue of reopening the economy.

"At peak in mid-April, COVID-19 patients occupied two percent of our 5,500 hospital beds and 48 of our 750 ventilators," Shapiro said. "Subsequently, admissions have been decreasing with very few patients now coming from the community, almost all now being from nursing homes."

UPMC's outcomes are similar to those across the state, where the median death age of coronavirus patients is 84. Shapiro said the few younger patients who died all had significant preexisting conditions. Very few children were infected and none died. Minorities in the region fared equally well as others, although Shapiro noted that is not the case nationally.

"In sum, this is a disease of the elderly, sick and poor," he said.

Shapiro expressed optimism that a reopening of the region - and most of the nation - can be accomplished without a dramatic rise in deaths.

"As people come out of their homes cautiously and safely, if we protect our vulnerable seniors,
particularly those in nursing homes, we should be able keep case rates low, buying time for a potential resurgence as we bolster our supply chain and find effective intervention," he said.

Shapiro warned that the one thing that cannot continue is extensive social isolation.

"We are already seeing the adverse mental health consequences of loneliness, " he said. "That is before the much greater effects of economic devastation take hold on the human condition."