“It's not going away,” Dr. Donald Yealy, senior medical director for the UPMC Health Services Division, said of COVID-19. “Everyone is ... adapting.”

UPMC doctors and officials held a virtual news conference Thursday to share data updates and new trends in treatment therapies for COVID-19.

Yealy indicated that many patients now seem to be experiencing less-frequent bouts of COVID-19 symptoms than those who were infected this spring.

While information is still being compiled on the matter, Yealy said this could be an indicator that the “virus is less virulent.”

Dr. Oscar Marroquin, chief health care data and analytics officer, said UPMC is testing 2.5 times more patients per day now than in the spring.

Marroquin also said while COVID-19 patients are being hospitalized 2.8 times more often now than in the spring, daily discharges have tripled.

“Patients are getting better,” Marroquin said.

Marroquin clarified that the majority of current hospitalized patients are similar in age and pre-existing conditions to those hospitalized this spring.

Citing an increase in treatment therapies using corticosteroids — a class of steroid hormones often used to treat conditions such as asthma or arthritis — officials said test trials have become a global endeavor.Dr. Derek Angus, chief health care innovation officer, explained that UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have been at the center of the global REMAP — Randomized Embedded Multifactorial Adaptive Platform — testing trials.REMAP allows scientists and doctors to study several treatment therapies at once, instead of the traditional randomized controlled trial (RCT) process.REMAP data has been combined with RCT data from around the world and was published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.The findings: There appears to be a correlation between corticosteroids and lower mortality rates in COVID-19 patients.The pooled data provides “definitive information,” according to Angus.“There was a strong, overall signal across the joint trials,” Angus said. “It is actually a global initiative.”Yealy said the combined data findings are an example of how health care providers and scientists around the world are working together.He indicated the process of bringing new and conclusive therapies to people is important to fighting COVID-19.“We want to get better at this,” Yealy said.

Responding to questions, UPMC officials said a recent statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating a vaccine could be available by November isn't impossible.“It is extremely optimistic,” Angus said.Still, Angus said there's been an unprecedented global response by both pharmaceutical companies and academic organizations to develop a vaccine.He explained while the vaccine process is usually lengthy, a collaborative international effort has dramatically sped it up.Angus said it doesn't hurt to be prepared for a vaccine as early as November. He said vaccines are effective only if patients are prepared to receive them.Yealy said people should continue practicing pandemic hygiene. Regular hand-washing, social distancing and wearing masks are important preventive measures.“We can impact this infection with our actions,” Yealy said. “Masks absolutely matter.”