Healthcare workers at Pennsylvania hospital say younger COVID-19 patients are falling critically ill
As the number of new coronavirus cases goes up in Pennsylvania, so does the number of patients who are hospitalized.
Doctors and nurses in the intensive care unit at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said more young patients are falling critically ill from COVID-19 compared to the beginning of the pandemic when many patients were older with underlying conditions.
"We're seeing younger patients that really don't have any good reason that they're this sick — 20s, 30s, 40s," intensive care nurse Katie Stroh said.
LG Health reported on Tuesday that the hospital is treating 52 COVID-19 patients, with 14 in the intensive care unit and seven on ventilators.
"These are the severe cases of COVID-19 pneumonia, so they're requiring either advanced noninvasive oxygen therapy or ventilator support," Stroh said.
Stroh said treatments such as remdesivir are being used now, but recovery can take weeks or even months. The long-term effects are still unknown.
"I think that we're pretty good at treating the disease. The problem comes with just the damage to the lungs that COVID-19 does. It can do a lot of damage, and it can take a long time to recover that damage," Stroh said.
Watch the video above to learn more about this story.
