Phoebe COVID numbers reach record low levels

ALBANY — Under normal circumstances — say two years ago — Scott Steiner probably would have called a news conference and trumpeted the latest news.

But these aren’t normal circumstances.

On Monday of last week, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and other local health care facilities conducted a total of 120 COVID tests. The number of people who tested positive? Zero.

And then on Friday, officials with Phoebe Putney Health System announced that in the system there were 10 COVID-positive patients being treated, all at Phoebe in Albany.

“We’re seeing the lowest numbers since this all started two years ago,” Steiner, president and CEO of the Albany-based health system, said. “But COVID is not over with. And, frankly, I don’t know if it ever will be.”

The emergence of a new variant of the pandemic — omicron A2 — is starting to spread in this country after impacting other parts of the world. But Steiner said even that typically daunting news is not as bad as it once would have been.

“As we’ve seen, this virus can pivot, shift quickly,” Steiner said. “And the CDC says about 35% of new COVID cases are of this new variant. But with vaccination numbers and the number of people who got and recovered from the delta and omicron variants, there is quite a bit of immunity.”

Steiner said the front line health care workers in the Phoebe health system have “let out a collective sigh of relief,” but he said they are approaching the virus now with “cautious optimism.”

“We’re following CDC guidelines,” he said. “And mostly what they’re promoting is that it’s safe outdoors without masks and it’s OK to go without filtered masks indoors if everyone can maintain a 6-foot distance from each other.

“I think a big piece of this right now is mental health; people are ready, after two years, to start doing things. My wife and I have gone out to eat a couple of times in recent days. We all get that. But I’d still like to caution everyone to be safe. And I encourage those who haven’t to get the vaccines: one, two and three with a fourth coming. Those have proven to be effective in the fight against this virus.”

Steiner said Phoebe has moved forward with plans to upgrade its facilities with such projects as the ER and NICU expansion at Phoebe-Albany that was recently approved by the health system board. But, he said, the system is “licking the financial wounds” that came with the pandemic.

“The stimulus money has been exhausted,” he said. “But the travel labor piece hasn’t gone away. We’ve had to replace employees, and where we were using 70-80 contract employees before the pandemic, we’re using around 400 now here in Albany and at Phoebe Sumter in Americus. That’s a huge financial burden on the health system.

“We’re like the rest of the country; we have a shortage of nurses. The state needs 28,000 nurses just to get to the national average, but there actually is a need for 50,000 more nurses. The reality is, the U.S. needs about a million more nurses.”

But Steiner said Phoebe is working with colleges and even high schools in the region to attract more students to health care education.

“This is a challenge, but I’m paid to take on challenges,” he said. “I’m up for this, and we at Phoebe are up for this. We are fully on this.”

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