YORK, Pa. — As the number of new Covid-19 cases continues to dip in Lancaster County, hospitalizations are not seeing the same trend.
“Delta virus is the circulating strain at this point, and if you get delta infection you are more than twice as likely to require hospitalization," said Dr. Joseph Kontra.
Kontra, the Chief of Infectious Diseases at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, says there are 20 people in the ICU and 16 on ventilators.
“That is a lot(of people) on the ventilators," Kontra says. "It’s similar to what we had over the winter time."
All of the patients on ventilators are unvaccinated, according to Kontra.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, 275,611 people in Lancaster County are vaccinated, and 273,426 are fully vaccinated.
“Predominantly, it’s middle age and older folks," says Kontra. "We don’t have any teenagers and people under 20s or 30s on the ventilator currently, and that tends to mirror the spectrum of infection. The younger folks tend to have less severe disease."
Kontra says he expected more people to be hospitalized with the Covid-19 delta strain.
However he’s not concerned about a significant rise as we approach the winter months.
“I don't think it’s going to go away," he says. "But, I also don’t anticipate it’s going to be as bad as last winter. We have to consider also however that the flu season is almost upon us, so we’re starting to see now that make it worse over the winter time, and may stretch out capacity, but I think we’ll be ready for it."