UPMC Chautauqua is pictured on Foote Avenue in Jamestown. The hospital reported to the state in its daily survey that no beds were available. P-J file photo

At any given time there are 112 beds across all hospitals in Chautauqua County. According to information provided daily by hospitals to New York state, all but five of those beds were currently occupied.

Based on the most recent data provided by the state on its website tracking hospital bed availability, there were no beds open at UPMC Chautauqua. The Jamestown hospital has 72 beds for patients as well as nine in its intensive care unit.

For a seven-day average, 5% of the 72 hospital beds were available and none available in the ICU.

Brian Durniok, UPMC Chautauqua president, said he expects to see more beds become available as the rate of new COVID-19 cases drops locally.

“Our occupancy, like many hospitals, has been increased by COVID-19 cases throughout the region,” Durniok said. “We are starting to see a reduction in COVID cases and we project that will relieve some of the high occupancy levels that have existed. However, while we remain busy, we strongly encourage members of the community who have health needs to seek care in the appropriate setting whether it be with their primary care physician, Urgent Care or the emergency room. We are here to provide excellent care to our communities.”

At Brooks-TLC Hospital in Dunkirk, only four of the facility’s 34 beds were open while one of its seven ICU beds were open.

For the week, 19% of the hospital beds at Brooks were available on average, while 9% of ICU beds on average were available.

And at Westfield Memorial Hospital, one of seven hospital beds were available according to the most recent information. Westfield does not list having any ICU beds.

The situation was slightly better at Olean General Hospital in Cattaraugus County. The facility had seven of its 96 beds open, though all of its eight ICU beds were taken.

The hospital bed occupancy data, the state said, comes from the daily COVID-19 survey through the State Health Electronic Response Data System. Hospitals are required to complete a survey each day.

Information can be found at coronavirus.health.ny.gov/hospital-bed-capacity

NEW CASES TRENDING DOWN

For the third consective week, average cases of the virus fell in the county. The Health Department reported 652 new cases for the week ending Feb. 5 — or about 93 a day. For the week ending Jan. 29, the county was averaging 146 cases a day; and for the week ending Jan. 22, the county averaged 236 cases a day.

The highest rate of cases, when the county changed its reporting format, came the week ending Jan. 8 when the county averaged 265 new cases each day.

As of Saturday, there were six new virus-related deaths reported and 30 people with the virus in the hospital. To date there have been 26,209 total reported cases, 25,712 recoveries and 305 deaths.

COUNTY TOUTS MITIGATION EFFORTS

In a news release this week, the county touted its efforts to combat the delta and omicron variant of COVID-19. They include distributing 40,000 at-home COVID tests and 10,000 face masks through municipalities; arranging two ongoing free testing clinics; and providing the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce with test kits to distribute to local businesses.

“As the community transmission of COVID-19 increased during the holiday season, our Chautauqua County COVID-19 leadership team recognized the necessity to increase access to testing and face masks to help curb the spread of COVID,” said Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel, later adding, “I thank our mayors and supervisors, houses of worship, care facilities and Chamber of Commerce for stepping up to assist with distributing these masks and test kits across the county. I also thank our COVID-19 Leadership Team, County Health Department, and Department of Emergency Services for stepping up to meet this challenge head on.”