MIAMI VALLEY — Miami Valley Hospital is able to say for the first time in almost two years that it doesn’t have any patients with COVID-19.
This comes after a surge of cases in January.
The Chief Medical Officer said a lot of credit is due to our community following guidelines and regulations.
Dr. Roberto Colon, chief medical officer at Miami Valley Hospital, said he hopes we can keep up the momentum.
Colon remembers there was a lot of fear among health care workers when the pandemic first hit.
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“We were really gearing up for a catastrophic impact in our community,” Colon told News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis.
Those fears were validated when COVID overwhelmed hospitals.
Those on the frontlines had to deal with virus surges, burnout and staffing issues.
Currently, Colon said across Premier Health’s system there are only a couple of COVID patients doctors are treating.
“That is a tremendous shift from where we were at just two months ago in the middle of January when we were seeing some of the biggest numbers of admitted patients with COVID in our facility,” Colon said.
This is the latest sign the pandemic is headed in the right direction. Some changes are even felt on the University of Dayton’s campus.
“We just had our mask mandate lifted and there’s really not a lot of talk about COVID on campus anymore,” UD student Kayle Woolman said.
Another student, Daniel Goglia, said that it’s odd to transition to not wearing a mask anymore. He said it almost feels like he is doing something wrong.
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While things appear calm right now, Colon said healthcare professionals are still on high alert.
‘That’s something we learned during the pandemic is to not take this virus for granted,” Colon said.
He said that we never know when a new variant could appear and alter the course of where we are in the pandemic.
According to the Dayton Hospital Association, there are only around a dozen COVID patients hospitalized in our region and zero in the Intensive Care Unit.
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