GOP leaders call for meeting of task force to tackle wave of covid; Wolf says he always meets

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A group of key Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, has urged Governor Tom Wolf to reconvene a joint state task force on covid-19 as hospitals in Pennsylvania are besieged by new cases and shrinking bed space.

“The information-sharing capabilities established through the development of the task force have helped Pennsylvania lead the country in vaccine improvement and could again be used to help bridge the information gap between hospital systems in order to to better serve patients, ”said spokesperson Erika Clayton Wright. cheeky.

The Hempfield Republican could not be reached for comment.

Replenishing the task force will not be necessary, Wolf said. The panel has never stopped meeting and sharing information with lawmakers.

In fact, the joint task force made up of Republican and Democratic lawmakers from the Senate and House met just two weeks ago, Wolf said in a statement. He said his administration continues to share information with lawmakers on key issues related to the pandemic, and the state’s health ministry has held monthly briefings with lawmakers.

A letter to Wolf signed by Ward and three other top elected GOP officials – Pro Tempore Senate Speaker Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte; the Speaker of the House, Bryan Cutler of Lancaster; and House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, Center County – said Pennsylvania’s health systems could benefit from bipartisan collaboration with several state-wide and community partners involved.

The task force, created last February, could provide the best mechanisms for sharing information and quickly communicating solutions with the General Assembly, hospitals, health systems and residents, the letter said.

The letter came in the wake of state hospitals warning they were operating at or near full capacity, in large part due to unvaccinated covid patients. Geisinger, one of the state’s largest healthcare systems, said it was at 110% capacity at its nine hospitals in central and northeastern Pennsylvania.

All UPMC facilities are operating at full or over capacity, spokeswoman Susan Manko said, although she stressed that all of its hospitals are open and care is available.

Last week, UPMC was treating around 840 covid patients across all facilities. The number of hospitalized patients peaked at 1,250 in December 2020, Manko said.

About 75% of covid patients treated in UPMC hospitals are not vaccinated. The 25% who are vaccinated “are either immunocompromised or elderly,” Manko said.

More than 650 Pennsylvanians died from covid last week, according to the state’s health department.

Wolf said unvaccinated people “continue to cause this increase in our health systems.” He said he called on lawmakers in September to help hospitals by urging their constituents to get vaccinated.

There is an increase in cases of covid, although the state has administered more early vaccines than any of the 10 most populous states.

Joe Napsha is a writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, [email protected] or via Twitter.

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