WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — UPMC Susquehanna's Dr. Rutul Dalal spoke to Newswatch 16 about the ongoing pandemic. He provided an update on what the hospital is seeing in the region.
"In summary, I should say that our numbers have dropped down compared to where we were, and the mortality is also not as high as we were expecting it to be," said Dr. Dalal.
This week, medical professionals at the hospital will receive their second round of the vaccine. The health care system hopes this will encourage the public to get the vaccine also.
"I took one myself, and many of my colleagues have taken it and barring around 10 to12 hours of soreness in your arms, and probably 2 to 4 percent of people experience headaches, and 2 to 4 percent get mild fevers. Barring that, there are no major side effects," said Dr. Dalal.
Dr. Dalal told Newswatch 16 that he expects the vaccine to be made public in the coming weeks.
"Our goal is to get it out in the next 4 to 6 weeks if we can to the general public," said Dr. Dalal.
The hospital system says they have also seen many patients delay their care because they fear contracting the virus at the hospital. Dr. Dalal assured Newswatch 16 that the hospital is one of the safest places to be.
"Delaying treatment is only going to cause more harm. Our facilities are open, and if we start to see a big surge, then we do have plans sometimes to cram down temporarily non-urgent surgeries or non-urgent procedures," said Dr. Dalal.
According to the health care system, they have not had an employee pass along the virus to a patient for the entire span of the ongoing pandemic.