Butler Memorial Hospital has reported four deaths related to COVID-19 since Thursday.

On Monday there were 10 patients in the intensive care unit, and the hospital reported 55 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

With the staff expecting more positive cases and hospitalizations from the disease in the next few weeks due to increased gatherings and decreased mitigation efforts, Butler Health System's chief medical officer Dr. David Rottinghaus said the hospital is focused on keeping proper staffing and keeping its staff healthy.

“We want to make sure we are staffed as full as we can as we anticipate a long winter with flu and other seasonal viruses coming in, and less mitigation efforts,” Rottinghaus said Tuesday.

Rottinghaus said that in addition to preparing the staff for a heavy season of sickness, BMH is encouraging people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and the booster shot if possible, because a majority of patients hospitalized by the disease have not been vaccinated.

Rottinghaus said the omicron variant of COVID-19, in a similar fashion to the delta variant discovered in the summer, is more contagious than the original strand.

'The latest (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) data suggested that 3% of virus infections in the U.S. now are omicron,” Rottinghaus said. “Some of the early information is suggesting that perhaps its propensity is less than delta and the original strain.”

The COVID-19 vaccine, and particularly the booster, is effective in preventing the disease, Rottinghaus said.

Rottinghaus also said the hospital encourages everyone to continue practicing good hygiene habits, including hand washing, social distancing when possible and wearing a mask in crowded spaces, in order to mitigate transmission.

In addition to the continued spread of COVID-19, Rottinghaus said the flu typically spreads from November through March. He said the hospital hasn't seen many cases of the flu so far, but it will keep track of the spread over the next few months.

“What is dominating our upper respiratory illness and flu-like symptoms now is still COVID,” Rottinghaus said. “Last year due to masking, flu cases were almost nonexistent, and it was relatively low across the state. We expect to see a different story with less mitigation efforts.”

Rottinghaus said it is possible to have COVID-19 and the flu at the same time, but he has not seen any examples of this.

The combination of holiday gatherings approaching and people exercising fewer mitigation efforts for germ spread has Rottinghaus concerned about the coming weeks, because the hospital has seldom seen a break from a full ICU.

“One of our biggest concerns was and remains hospital capacity,” Rottinghaus said. “One of the things I worry about is how many patients are we going to have, and how are we going to take care of those patients.”