Warren County may be in line for an upswing as the COVID-19 omicron variant sweeps through the county.

Warren General Hospital personnel are worried less about what variant is here and which is around the corner. Instead, they continue to focus on vaccination.

“Our focus continues to be on getting residents vaccinated,” Chief Nursing Officer Joe Akif said. “This is still the key to fighting the spread of the virus.”

“There is no data available to date that supports or suggests that the vaccine contributes to getting COVID,” Akif said. “We are not seeing significant reports of vaccinated individuals testing positive for COVID.”

“What we are seeing with vaccinated individuals that have contracted COVID, their recuperation has been a short duration and less severe,” he said.

“Many report nothing worse than simple cold symptoms and no fever.”

“Unvaccinated patients are still experiencing more advanced acuity and hospitalization,” he said. “We have only had a few patients that have been vaccinated that have passed. They all had significant medical histories that contributed to their death.”

Local testing does not check for which strain of the virus is going around.

“We do not test for the variant in our local labs,” he said. “These tests are completed at the state level. We are working under the impression that Omicron is the dominant variant.”

That could be mixed news.

“It appears that Omicron may be less virulent, but it is spreading with extreme ease,” Akif said.

With some patients, even a less virulent COVID-19 is a danger.

“Warren County has many residents that are medically fragile and considered at-risk due to underlying medical conditions,” Akif said. “So any variant is a threat to the health of these residents.”

The virus is also infecting a wider variety of ages.

“We are seeing much younger patients presenting,” he said.

“Maternity patients are also now the most vulnerable group that we are caring for,” Akif said. “We now are seeing mothers with COVID starting to be induced at 36 weeks due to the unborn baby showing distress. After delivery, we are seeing the impact of COVID on mothers’ bodies that threaten babies. We encourage all pregnant women to stay in close contact with their obstetricians.”

Pennsylvania Department of Health data shows the number of COVID-related hospitalizations starting to increase.

“Based upon other regions in Northwest Pennsylvania, we are seeing the same trend that we experienced last winter,” Akif said. “Meadville (Crawford County), Erie County and then Warren County was the pattern. Omicron has been the dominant strain in these communities. Also Meadville recently peaked, Erie is in an upswing, so we anticipate Warren to soon be following suit.”

“We are entering new phases showing the most vulnerable people,” he said. “We had a slow-down over the holidays for hospitalizations, but are now starting to see an increase again of hospitalizations.”

“While hospitalizations were down for a week or so, the death rate for these admissions is increasing,” Akif said. “We are having to work with families in making end of life decisions that are very impactful on all that are caring for these patients and their families.”