THE TOLL MOUNTS
DELCO SUFFERS 6TH DEATH; PA. TOLL NOW STANDS AT 63
The number of COVID-19 cases in the state has more than quintupled over the last week from
851 in 40 counties on March 24 to 4,843 in 60 counties as of Tuesday. Another 756 cases were reported March 31 alone. Delaware County accounted for 57 of those, bringing the local total to 364. The death toll statewide is now
63, six of them Delco residents. And Dr. Tony Mazzeo, the regional medical director of emergency medicine for Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, serving at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Philadelphia, Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby and Nazareth Hospital, said Tuesday that those numbers will “definitely” continue to grow.
“We are starting to see an uptick over this past week of patients with legitimate symptoms and positive testing, similar to what you’re seeing released by the local and state Department of Health,” said Mazzeo Tuesday. “Part of it is a measurement bias and part of it is the actual uptick in the disease, but … I definitely think we’re going to continue to see an increase over the next couple of weeks, for sure.”
Mazzeo said the ability to test in the region has improved over the past few weeks, so while COVID-19 might have been here earlier, there was no real way to know or get a handle on the numbers. As testing has increased, the numbers start to fill out, but that has also been coupled with more patients presenting with symptoms, he said.
When patients arrive at one of the three emergency departments he oversees, Mazzeo said staff must first evaluate them to see if they have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and do standard triage.
“If a patient comes in, we’ll make sure we get their vital signs, get a history and physical based on their complaints and do some ancillary testing to see if they have any possibility of the disease, if they require admission or if they’re safe for discharge,” he said. “What’s different is, of course, the level of personal protective equipment required, masking and gowns, making sure the patients are safe, making sure the staff is safe and that we reduce any sort of cross-contamination to the best extent that we can.”
Medics in Philly and Delco are very good at communicating in advance if they have a possible COVID-19 patient, Mazzeo said. They don masks and put the patient in a mask, and then health care workers are ready at the hospital to get that patient into an isolated room as soon as they arrive. All walk-ins are also instructed to wear masks, even if they aren’t arriving for COVIDrelated illness, in order to reduce any possible cross-contamination.
“If (patients) have any complications that require admission, they’re quarantined in the emergency department and then we bring them to a quarantine area of the hospital where they can get the care they need and to avoid spreading, if they have COVID-19, to other patients, so they are in a separate area,” said Mazzeo.
Nurses and other health care workers at local hospitals including Mercy Fitzgerald reported concerns about running out of supplies in a “report card” compiled and issued by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals last week, but Mazzeo said supplies are holding out for now.
“We’re monitoring our supplies daily and we have protective procedures in place to make our equipment last as long as possible in a safe manner,” he said. “We’re also working with our regional hospital system to distribute incoming (personal protective equipment) so that we have the materials we need … I think everybody worries that if the pandemic/epidemic really, really takes off, then we are going to be tearing through our supplies faster than we can replace them, but I think it does have the attention and focus of the state and federal governments, a lot of people working to get the supply level to where we need. But right now we’re OK and hopefully it will stay that way.”
Mazzeo added that health care workers appreciate all the backing and encouragement they have received from the community during this crisis, including those who have donated gear.
“We’ve had so much support, restaurants and individuals sending us food, local suppliers donating PPE and equipment to us, so we just want to say thank you to everyone in the community for recognizing the front-line team and supporting us, we are super grateful,” he said.
Mazzeo said he believes the state government has done a good job of getting ahead of the virus to the extent that it could with actions like closing schools and enforcing social distancing. He also commended the bravery, commitment and teamwork that he has witnessed from colleagues at all levels, even as they might struggle with the very real possibility of exposing themselves to the pandemic.
“We talk about that amongst ourselves,” Mazzeo said. “Everybody gets colds this time of year and you worry if you get any symptoms – are you bringing that home to your family from work? We care about our patients, we don’t want to pass anything along to our patients, and then any time some epidemic like this comes in with a higher level of mortality, you worry about your own safety as well.
“But those of us on the front lines, we signed up for this job because we care about patients,” he continued. “And these are very big fears, but we have to put them in the right place and take as many safety precautions as we can to protect our patients, our loved ones and ourselves.”
In the event that staffing does begin to become strained as a surge in cases builds and healthcare workers themselves contract COVID-19, Mazzeo said Trinity has contingency plans in place to pull providers from different teams within the hospital system so the emergency departments will continue to operate.
But in support of that, he urged the community to stay home and keep isolated if they do come down with just simple flu-like symptoms without complications, such as body aches or a mild fever.
“Even if you do have it, it’s best to stay home for your own safety and for that of others,” he said. “If we do get a further uptick, we want to reserve the emergency department for those really sick patients who need to be there.”