Saint Francis leaders see encouraging signs in COVID-19 trends; Say the cases are still high



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Saint Francis Hospital officials said the number of COVID-19 patients is still very high, but they are seeing positive trends.

Saint Francis health officials in Tulsa are cautiously optimistic in the ongoing fight against COVID-19.

“Over the past three days, over this weekend, we have admitted fewer patients than we have received,” said Dr. Cliff Robertson, President and CEO of St. Francis.

Robertson said that during the same period, the hospital’s test positivity rate also declined slightly.

“It’s only been three days, so we need seven, eight, nine days in a row this way before I think we would start to see a real plateau,” said Robertson.

While this is encouraging, Robertson said the hospital numbers for COVID-19 are still very high and people are still very sick.

Currently, 282 patients are hospitalized with the virus, 27 below the hospital’s peak earlier this year. 91% of people currently hospitalized are not vaccinated.

Christy Pisarra is the hospital’s acute care director.

“This Delta wave that we are seeing this time is very different from last January,” Pisarra said. “Our patients are much younger, and something anecdotal that we have noticed is that they fail more quickly.”

Pisarra said this wave is also emotionally difficult for staff members working in COVID-19 units, as young parents and younger ones die.

“It’s just not normal, completely wrong to have a 20 year old, 30 year old, 40 year old, 50 year old man, a full unit of that age on a ventilator,” Pisarra said.

Pisarra implores the Oklahomans to get vaccinated and wear a mask.

Saint Francis said 153 of their employees are currently linked to COVID-19. 119 of them have tested positive, 13 are in quarantine and 21 are showing symptoms but have tested negative.

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