DANVILLE, Pa. — Geisinger President and CEO Dr. Jaewon Ryu spoke virtually to reporters at his weekly news conference on Friday and said his hospitals are still seeing trends that cause concern when it comes to COVID-19.
"We have seen our volumes triple as far as cases inside the hospital. We have been operating at or near capacity at all of our major hospitals, including our ICUs," Dr. Ryu said.
Geisinger has slowed down elective surgeries by 50 percent as cases continue to rise.
"If you look at the last two weeks of November, we were averaging about 240 positive tests per day. Since December 1, we are now averaging around 370 positive tests per day."
But Dr. Ryu says there is light at the end of the tunnel. That light is the COVID-19 vaccine. Geisinger received around 3,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week.
"By the end of today, we should have over 400 of our employees vaccinated. By the end of the weekend, I believe we should have around 2,100 of our employees vaccinated."
Dr. Ryu expects the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to arrive as early as next week. Front-line hospital workers are being vaccinated first. Geisinger is working with federal and state officials on a timeline for the public to get vaccinated.
"This process will take months, but I think all the signs are very promising that we should continue to get more and more supply with each passing week."
Dr. Ryu says so far, no one on his staff has had any side effects from the vaccine. He encourages everyone to get it, even if you have already had COVID-19.