WARREN, Pa. — Warren General Hospital is under stress.

In addition to elevated COVID admissions, flu season is starting, and there is already an unusually high number of non-COVID patients needing treatment.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has shown 14 hospitalized COVID patients in the county for more than a week. With the exception of a few days in August (when there were 16 and 17 patients), that is higher than any time since January — when the data showed numbers in the high 20s and low 30s for much of the month.

Those patients are younger, on average, than the patients of previous surges, according to Chief Nursing Officer Joe Akif.

“We are now seeing admissions higher than last year for COVID patients,” Akif said. “While the number of admissions are increasing, the age of COVID admissions is now younger.”

“In addition, we are seeing much higher death rates as well,” he said.

The overwhelming majority — 90 percent — of both admissions and deaths are people who are unvaccinated, he said.

Hospital officials do not expect the COVID numbers to decline soon.

“COVID is currently projected to not start declining in Warren County until mid-January 2022,” Akif said.

“In addition to the high intensity needed to care for the COVID patients, this year has had unusually high numbers of medical patients as well,” he said.

To top it off, the county recently saw its first documented case of the flu since the 2019-20 season. Assuming the flu returns to something close to former levels, there will be patients requiring treatment for that — “this will also stress the system,” he said.

“What is very concerning is that there is very little to no capacity for inpatients,” Akif said. “In addition to all beds being full, we are experiencing double digit numbers of patients waiting in the Emergency Room to be admitted to the hospital or transferred to another facility.”

It’s not just Warren General that is low on space.

“Compounding the bed availability is the inability to transfer patients to skilled nursing facilities,” Akif said. “One facility in Warren County has not taken patients from the hospital for over two months. This really places a stress on caring for newly diagnosed patients. This phenomenon is not unique to us. The Erie hospitals are experiencing the same thing.”

“Feedback that we receive from other facilities is a shortage of nursing is now also contributing to bed shortages,” he said.

Personnel at Warren General are holding up. “Under the current stressors, the team is still providing strong care to every patient,” he said.

Patients who are not in urgent need of procedures may have to wait.”

Elective surgeries that may need admission are now being reviewed daily with the surgeons,” Akif said. “Based on the patient’s acuity, scheduled procedures requiring admission may be postponed.”

“We appreciate residents’ patience and understanding during these difficult times,” he said. “This clinical team has essentially been going full steam since December of last year. There has been no downtime. We typically have experienced a slowdown in volume during the summer. Not this year.”

“This is also compounded by the unusual amount of death that has been experienced,” he said. “It takes a toll on the team.”