For the first time in a month, there were fewer than 300 Covid-19 patients in Erie County hospitals, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted Saturday.
As of Dec. 23, the most recent day for which data is available, there were 292 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Erie County, a drop of 24 patients from the previous day. The last time that figure was below 300 was just before Thanksgiving, when there were 298 Covid-19 patients in the county's hospitals on Nov. 24.
Also, there were 65 patients in intensive care units, with 44 on airway assist on Thursday. There were five Covid-19 deaths on that day.
Of the 292 who were hospitalized Thursday, 66% were not fully vaccinated, meaning they hadn't completed the two-dose regiment for Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The definition for fully vaccinated doesn't include boosters, although public health experts are debating whether the definition needs to be revised to include them.
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Erie County officials have credited the county's mask mandate, implemented on Nov. 23, with driving down the number of new cases and hospitalizations. However, Erie County saw a spike in new cases Thursday. Statewide, the number of new cases of Covid-19 has skyrocketed with 44,431 new cases reported Thursday. Friday's statistics weren't expected to be available because of the Christmas holiday.
The Omicron variant is blamed for the recent spike in new cases. Following early indications that the variant causes less severe illness, public health officials are hopeful that the rise in cases won't lead to another rise in hospitalizations.
