The month of May began with about 400 patients at UMass Memorial Health Care that had either tested positive for coronavirus or were under close watch. As the month nears its end, its president and CEO, Dr. Eric Dickson, said the number is down 40%.
"Because of [city residents], because of the actions taken, we have not only managed the surge of patients in our hospitals, we’ve been able to watch the decline and get back to significantly improved operations,” Dickson said Thursday during a news conference at Worcester City Hall.
Just minutes before Dickson spoke, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. announced 23 new cases in Worcester, bringing the city’s total to 4,060. Entering this week, the city averaged about 70 new cases per day.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the city decreased at hospitals to 189, 17 lower than a day earlier. The number of patients in the intensive care unit dropped to 67, down by 12 the previous day.
The numbers provided by the city are a bit behind the numbers issued by the state. Augustus said the delay is because of verification being done by contact tracers.
Augustus said it takes time to confirm the residence of a person who tested positive. However, he envisions the city’s numbers to match that of the state on Tuesday. With that, he anticipates a spike in the numbers only because the city is caught up, rather than an actual surge in cases.
“It is my expectation that on Tuesday we’re going to see this 4,000 number go up by several hundred,” Augustus said.
The city, though, appears to be in a strong position against the virus entering June as businesses begin to reopen.
“It’s going to be warm and it’s going to be a challenge and you want to go back out to restaurants,” Dickson said. “And we should reopen. The prevalence of the disease is going down. It’s not zero. It’s going down significantly. We can reopen and we start doing the things we love, but we all have to be careful to continue the precautions.”
Dickson said masks should still be worn at all times. He said the biggest lesson learned from the pandemic is personal protection equipment works.
Dickson pointed directly to the staff of 200 people working at the DCU Center. Only one tested positive for the virus.
“If you can go in there and work there for a month, and not get coronavirus, then you can go anywhere really and make it happen,” Dickson said. “As long as you have a good infectious disease program.”
With the good news, Dickson also delivered bad news. While cases of coronavirus have declined, hospitals are seeing increases in late stage diseases for the first time. Dickson said, many of the problems should have been addressed months ago, but people were scared to go to the hospital.
“A lot of people are afraid to come to the hospital," Dickson said. "Little mini strokes, symptoms that they were having, that we could have prevented a big stroke from happening, they’re coming in with a big stroke. And that’s a shame.”
He said the hospital has also seen decline in cancer diagnosis, but not because cancer has disappeared. It’s seeing less visits for chest pains, but an increase in heart attacks.
He reminded the public the last place someone should catch coronavirus is a hospital.
“You’ve done an amazing job in terms of reducing the spread of this infection by doing what is hard and necessary,” Dickson said. “I would also say if you have a loved one or you yourself is experiencing concerning symptoms ... come to the hospitals”
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