OSWEGO – City and county officials along with representatives from Oswego Health joined forces today at a press conference at the Oswego City Fire Department to address recent surges of COVID-19 cases and Oswego Hospital’s decision to go into ambulance diversion for eight hours on Monday night.
The driving message from officials was cemented in community and protecting one another during this new wave of the pandemic.
“The message today is about community,” Fulton Mayor Deana Michaels said. “We’re here because of our communities and the safety and well-being of everyone in our communities.”
As of December 9, the county’s seven-day average COVID-19 positivity rate has reached 13.09%, one of the highest levels in recent months. As a result of the high rate and the threat of the omicron variant, which has yet to reach Oswego County according to Legislature Chairman James Weatherup, these local officials have turned to the public. Oswego County’s medical director, Dr. Christina Liepke, urged community members to wear masks to help stop the current rise of cases.
“The health care providers, the hospital, the government officials you see here today have done what they can to mitigate this problem, but what we really need is the community,” Liepke said. “I need people, we need people to wear a mask. I need you to wear a mask at the grocery store, I need you to wear a mask at work.”
Liepke added that the current rise is not just a small blip on the radar. It is a serious concern for the community as it enters the holiday season.
“Oswego County is in the middle of a public health crisis, that is my opinion. I don’t think there is an actual definition of crisis, but Oswego County is in a public health crisis,” Liepke said. “We’re having rising numbers of COVID-19, increasing numbers of hospitalizations – not just of COVID-19 but of other things.”
Non-COVID-19 related illnesses are another major threat to Oswego Hospital and was part of the reason why it needed to go on ambulance diversion earlier this week. According to the VP of clinical services and integrated healthcare at Oswego Health, Kathryn Pagliaroli, there has been a rise of non-COVID-19 hospitalizations. These patients combine with COVID-19 hospitalizations to take up limited beds at Oswego Hospital, resulting in a more stressed health care system. Oswego Hospital was able to end its ambulance diversion early Tuesday because it moved patients out of the facility, easing up the stress, according to Chief Operating Officer Michael Backus.
The diversion also led to Mayor Billy Barlow of Oswego City to declare a state of emergency. He called the declaration a proactive move as it allows him to make quick decisions without seeking approval from the Common Council until later.
“The reason for my state of emergency is that it gives the executive authority to make decisions swiftly and be more nimble, and then I can go to the common council and get them to approve my fuding I allocate and sign agreements after the fact,” Barlow said. “When you are in an emergency situation like this, quick swift concise action is very important and that’s what the declaration allows me to do.”
In an interview with Oswego County Today earlier in the week, Barlow added that the Common Council will hold its last meeting on December 13, making it more difficult to get their approval during the break. Ambulance diversions are troublesome for the city, as it could impact the ambulance coverage for its community. If an Oswego ambulance is called onto a scene and has to drive an hour or more to the nearest hospital, like to Auburn or Watertown, the city loses that ambulance for the next potential emergency, according to Barlow.
The state of emergency declaration should also be viewed as somewhat of a wake-up call, as Barlow alluded to, saying this is an emergency.
“If the situation in the City of Oswego is not an emergency, I don’t know what is,” Barlow said. “When your hospital is [near capacity] and you’re going on ambulance diversion and the data, the cases, the trends are where they are, we are one of the worst areas in the state right now. This is the worst point that we’ve been data-wise since the pandemic started, and we still have to go through [the holiday season] … The worst isn’t behind us and that is my concern.”
While this is a pressing issue, the community can help. Barlow spoke on “[flattening] the curve, so we don’t overwhelm the healthcare system,” and Michaels ended the press conference similar to how she started it, focusing on the safety of the community.
“This isn’t about politics,” Michaels said. “This is about the safety and well-being of our community … So we have to be prepared to adjust accordingly for when new data comes out.”
missing or outdated ad config
