Westmoreland officials: Lax health precautions likely contributor to coronavirus surge

Westmoreland County officials cannot attribute an ongoing surge in coronavirus cases to any specific activity, but some suggest a major factor could be people being lax in following recommended health guidelines to mitigate the pandemic.

On Friday, the county recorded 64 new cases of the disease — after adding 133 cases the previous day, which marked the second-highest daily increase since the pandemic arrived in March. The county has seen a total of 3,900 cases — including more than 600 in the past week — and 80 deaths, according to the state Department of Health.

The report included 43 Westmoreland patients hospitalized with the coronavirus, six of them using ventilators.

As of Thursday, Excela Health, which operates three hospitals in the county, indicated it was treating 44 coronavirus patients. Two were on ventilators. The system had another 120 beds and 75 ventilators available.

Excela is “well-positioned” with treatment capacity and equipment, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carol Fox said. While local coronavirus case numbers have been up, she said there has not been a corresponding spike in related deaths or in the number of patients requiring a ventilator.

With colder weather beginning to drive people closer together indoors, Fox said, local health professionals were expecting a seasonal impact on coronavirus numbers. She cited an increased laxity in wearing masks and observing social distancing, which she dubbed “covid fatigue,” as a likely factor in rising case numbers here and in other parts of the nation.

Westmoreland’s daily coronavirus case numbers stayed mostly below 20 from mid-August through mid-September, after a midsummer bump. “I think people got lax because of that,” said Bud Mertz, the county’s director of public safety. “People need to be aware this isn’t June or July anymore. We’re in the second surge.”

In addition to Excela’s resources, Mertz said he monitors the demand coronavirus cases may place on local emergency medical services.

“We continually plan in case the ambulance services get overrun by calls, but we haven’t seen that yet,” he said.

Mertz said the county is using social media to urge residents to play it safe — for themselves and others — by wearing masks and social distancing.

But, he expressed frustration that the county isn’t getting sufficient feedback from the state, which is conducting contact tracing of those who have come into close contact with people who test positive for the virus.

“We’re not getting a lot of data back from any of the contract tracing that would allow us to target any public messaging to any specific area,” he said.

As of Aug. 31, the state Department of Health listed 74 contact tracers, including 17 Allegheny County Health Department staff members and 12 UPMC staffers, who were serving an area covering 11 counties in the region, including Westmoreland. The department indicated in September it was looking to hire additional tracers, but it wasn’t clear how many may have augmented efforts in the southwestern region.

The state Department of Health works with officials at the county level “to inform them about increases in cases, and what steps can be taken to protect residents,” said spokeswoman Maggi Mumma. But, she said, outside of the coronavirus statistics updated regularly on the department website, “there really is very little other information.

“There is no way to determine definitively if cases track to an individual event. In the vast majority of cases, there is no way of knowing exactly how someone contracted (the coronavirus). Unless they never leave their home or are in a congregate setting such as a long-term care facility, prison, etc., it is not possible to know exactly how someone got the virus.”

Residents of nursing and personal care homes have been among populations most vulnerable to the coronavirus. Several facilities in the county have seen a recent rash of cases.

That includes the county-owned Westmoreland Manor in Hempfield, where officials reported on Friday an additional staff member had tested positive for the virus, joining 35 others. There were 125 Manor residents who had contracted the virus, with at least six deaths.

In North Huntingdon, 60 residents at Transitions Healthcare have tested positive during October, according to a post Wednesday on the facility’s Facebook page. At least nine of them had recovered from the illness.

Coronavirus cases among students and staff have prompted recent closures of several local public schools. State officials on Monday are expected to recommend that local districts choose to switch to full-time virtual instruction, after the county on Friday ended a second consecutive week with coronavirus infections rates at a “substantial” level.

Local school officials will have to weigh the safety of students and staff and liability issues as they determine how to respond to the recommendation.

The Department of Health reported 124 cases of the virus per 100,000 people, or an incidence rate of 124.1, in the county over a seven-day period that ended Thursday. That exceeds the 100-case benchmark that is deemed substantial in the state’s three-tiered Early Warning Monitoring System.

The week before, Westmoreland’s incidence rate was 140.9, up from 90.7 for the seven-day period ending Oct. 8.

Statewide, the current incidence rate for coronavirus spread is 79.1. Allegheny County is in the “moderate” category, with a rate of 56.1. That is up from 45.5 the week before.

In a letter to parents posted Friday on the Penn-Trafford School District website, Superintendent Matthew Harris said the district intends to keep its schools open even if the expected state recommendation to the contrary is issued. He noted that a hybrid instructional option at the high school, with students learning remotely part of the time, will be discussed at the Nov. 2 school board meeting.

“We will continue to identify (coronavirus) cases and make determinations for closures on a building by building basis according to the data that is available,” Harris wrote. “Over the past month, we closed four of our schools based on the data and the need, and if necessary, we will continue to close buildings. If the state recommendation becomes a mandate, (the district) will obviously follow the mandate.”

Hempfield Area has students attending in-person classes part of the time, through a hybrid model, and will consider various factors when deciding whether to close schools, according to Superintendent Tammy Wolicki. The high school was closed through Friday after a 12th student had tested positive since Oct. 12.

Wolicki noted that the “school system is a part of the larger community and, as such, can contribute to or mitigate the (virus) spread.”

“We can stop the spread by wearing masks and washing our hands regularly, even if you don’t feel your hands are dirty,” said county Commissioner Doug Chew, who experienced “fairly mild” symptoms after recently testing positive for the coronavirus.

“We all need to do the patriotic thing and quarantine and isolate when we’re positive, even if we don’t have symptoms,” he said.

“We want our small businesses and schools to be able to stay open,” said Commissioner Gina Cerilli. “Therefore, we need to realize that the virus is still here and real.

“Our constituents’ health and safety is a top priority. We need to balance both. To keep our economy open, we need everyone to wear a mask and socially distance. Hopefully, we can get back to normal at some point in 2021.”