Health

Mass. hospitals prepare for second surge of COVID-19 cases

WORCESTER, Mass. — For the second day in a row, Massachusetts has had more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases. The state released those new numbers Sunday afternoon, reporting 1,097 new cases after more than 1,100 new cases were reported Saturday.

“Well the trend definitely is a concern,” said Dr. Craig Lilly, vice-chair of critical care operations at UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester. “It’s just an indication that we really need to double down in our preventive measures and also to be prepared as a healthcare system if people do get sick.”

Lilly said it’s concerning to see a spike in COVID-19 cases this weekend. The state hasn’t seen cases this high since the peak of the pandemic last spring. As for a second surge of the virus this winter?

“I think going over 1,000 cases a day for two days in a row suggests that that may already be happening,” said Lilly, "and we need to work together as a community to turn that around.”

The good news, Lilly said, is all major hospitals in the area are nowhere near capacity, with plenty of space to treat COVID-19 patients. “Our projections suggest that our capacity is well ahead of what the need is likely to be, and, like other institutions, we have a staged approach." “If we start to have a concern that the cases are rising faster than we can keep up, then we’ll go to the next stage of our disaster plan and start to expand our facilities.”

That could mean reopening field hospitals, like Worcester did with the DCU Center in April, but Lilly doesn’t expect hospitals will need to go to that extreme anytime soon. “I think you could say perhaps the average case is less severe, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the virus is weaker." "It just might mean there’s better testing and a lot more awareness.”

That awareness is allowing people to get treated quicker than they were at the beginning of the pandemic, which may be why fewer patients are going to the ICU. Still, with cases on the rise recently, he hopes everyone stays vigilant in their fight against this virus, especially as more people move indoors this winter.

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