UPMCs Altoona, Bedford Memorial, Somerset and Western Maryland are experiencing “disproportionate” “growth in (corona)viral activity,” but the UPMC system’s flexibility and sharing of resources has ensured that none of those hospitals are overwhelmed, according to UPMC officials on a Zoom call Wednesday.

There are high levels of both coronavirus and other patients in those hospitals but they’re “not beyond capacity,” said Donald Yealy, chairman of UPMC’s Department of Emergency Medicine.

System leaders are in touch with local leaders “multiple times a day,” discussing patient loads and figuring out how best to share them, when necessary, Yealy said.

That is the “benefit of a large health system with enormous resources,” said Rachel Sackrowitz, chief medical officer at the UPMC ICU Service Center.

The frequent discussions take place in the context of a systemwide COVID-19 plan and a plan for each of the individual hospitals, according to Sackrowitz.

On Wednesday and Saturday, Blair and its contiguous counties set new daily records with 297 positive tests, bringing their cumulative total to 11,267, according to state Department of Health Statistics.

The state as a whole also set a record for daily cases Wednesday with 4,711, breaking the record of the day before, which in turn broke the record from Saturday, when the daily case count first went over 4,000.

Regional deaths, while not climbing at the rate of the positive cases, are increasing, with every local county recording at least one new death Wednesday, bringing the cumulative total to 131.

No single cause — “beyond human contact and impaired protection” — has led to the positive-case increases, according to Yealy.

Masking compliance that isn’t as good as it should be and cooler temperatures that have led to more gatherings indoor are among “many factors,” he said.

Masking, keeping social distance, staying home when sick and washing hands frequently are key, according to Yealy.

That will hold true especially over the upcoming holidays, Yealy and Sackrowitz said.

“I understand (coronavirus) fatigue,” Yealy said. Masks are a pain and people want to get together with friends. But masks and the other mitigation tactics work, he said.

Masks help prevent spreading COVID-19 to others, and it helps protect wearers, he said. It’s likely also that because they reduce the intensity of viral loads passing from person to person, they reduce the intensity of illnesses, he said.

The death rate not being commensurate with the rate of positive cases reflects the “best practices” that have developed since the spring, according to Sackrowitz.

That has included use of therapies like corticosteroids and high-flow nasal oxygen, in place of ventilators for many patients, according to Sackrowitz and Yealy.

There are other therapies, too, which UPMC has been using and testing in a study that directs patients toward the treatments that are working and away from treatments that aren’t, Yealy said.

People shouldn’t hesitate to get needed care for non-COVID-19 medical problems, according to Yealy and Sackrowitz.

It’s safe to come into the system’s hospitals, Yealy said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.