Sentinel photo by BRIAN COX
The Geisinger-Lewistown Hospital sign above the emergency room entrance is lit up green for Christmas Friday evening. Earlier Friday, Geisinger CEO and president Dr. Jaewon Ryu provided an update on how the health system is handling the COVID-19 surge and how it is distributing COVID vaccines to its employees, including some at the Mifflin County facility.

LEWISTOWN — Dr. Jaewon Ryu, president and CEO of Geisinger Health System, held a press conference Friday and provided updates on how Geisinger facilities are fighting the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

Ryu said Geisinger continues to see alarmingly high rates of positive tests and hospitalizations.

“Our numbers continue to show that one third of our current inpatients are under the age of 65,” he said. “In December, we are averaging almost 370 new positive tests per day. Our positivity rate is now hovering at about 20-22% in recent days. That is a slight improvement from two weeks ago.”

Ryu said at Geisinger labs alone, there have been almost 23,000 positive test results.

“At the December 4 briefing we reported that one quarter of all the COVID-19 deaths we’ve had at Geisinger since March occurred in the month of November,” Ryu said. “If you compare the first two weeks of November to the first two weeks in December, the number of people who have died from COVID has more than doubled.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Geisinger has been among the first hospitals in Pennsylvania to receive shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for distribution to staff — including some that were administered to staff at Geisinger-Lewistown Hospital.

“We were one of the first hospital systems in Pennsylvania to have received the vaccine and are distributing it to our front-line workers as supplies allow.

Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre and Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital in Lycoming County were also sent shipments of vaccines.

“In total, we received about 3,000 doses, which we have been rapidly administering to staff all week,” Ryu said.

As of last Thursday night, Geisinger has already vaccinated more than 360 employees and said it would be more than 400 by the end of the day Friday. Ryu said by the end of this weekend, Geisinger will have completed about 2,100 vaccinations.

“So far, we have not had any issues with the safety of the vaccine,” he said.

But the CEO urged people to plan carefully for how they’ll spend the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

“With the holidays next week, we strongly encourage everyone to avoid gatherings and consider alternative options,” Ryu said. “The best thanks you can give the front-line health care heroes is to think twice about group gatherings and to wear a mask out in public.”