Butler Health System officials are concerned about the growing number of COVID-19 cases across the country and in the region.

In recent weeks, state officials have said they are carefully monitoring a statewide increase in new cases of COVID-19, which has also been documented as a nationwide phenomenon.

Last week, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said she believed this is just the beginning of a resurgence that will coincide with the cold and flu season. At the time, she said there were no immediate concerns of overwhelmed health care systems in the state.

“We have certainly seen case counts rise recently and, therefore, hospitalizations are also on the rise,” said Maggi Mumma, deputy press secretary for the state Department of Health.

Mumma said the department is relying on continued social mitigation efforts for keeping both COVID-19 and the flu in check as well as encouraging anybody who can to get a flu shot.

BHS reported five COVID-19 inpatients at Butler Memorial Hospital on Monday with three of those patients having confirmed cases of the virus and the others waiting on test results.

While the health system remained in the single digits in inpatients Monday, its doctors, nurses and administrators don't want people to take that favorable situation for granted, according to Dr. David Rottinghaus, BHS chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs.

“We don't want to sound like alarmists all the time, but when you see local cases and national cases rise, it's concerning,” Rottinghaus said. “We want to see kids in schools, businesses open and people back to work. We want to see all those things.”

Rottinghaus said initially experts believed geography acted as an inherent protection because social distancing could be much easier in rural areas.

States known for being mostly rural, such as Wisconsin, Montana and Iowa, are experiencing more cases and community spread.

“Pennsylvania is still in pretty good shape compared to other states, but we are seeing a palpable change,” Rottinghaus said.

On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 2,751 new positive cases, a daily increase similar to those seen in April.

“Today's increase is the largest daily increase to date,” said the department in a Tuesday news release.

According to the report, Butler County added 25 new confirmed cases, its largest increase since Sept. 5. The county also averaged 21 new confirmed cases per day over the past week.

“The more congregated people are, the less compliance there is with mask wearing and distancing, the more this virus spreads,” Rottinghaus said.

He said the controversy over whether masks are effective is settled — they help. And although people are tired of living an adapted pandemic-friendly lifestyle, it's still needed because there are many people who are asymptomatic and have passed along the virus.

“That's still very real and really true,” Rottinghaus said. “That limits the ability to contain the virus, when you just go by people's symptoms.”

Rottinghaus also said the hospital is prepared for whatever may come with a resurgence.

During the peak of the virus earlier this year, the hospital converted a surgical unit into a COVID-19 bay, overhauled its rules on visitation and admittance procedure and, with the help of county officials, established an overflow center at the former Broad Street Elementary School.

“We keep those plans ready to activate at any point in time,” Rottinghaus said. “We are going to keep that on the ready.”

Rottinghaus said the concern of BHS staff is that the number of infected people in the community is rising, meaning more people are at home recovering from COVID-19. He said symptomatic people have said the first few days aren't too bad, but by the fifth through seventh days, people often decide to come to the hospital.

“We don't want to get so full as other parts of the country are seeing,” he said. “None of us in the hospital space want to get back to a point to where we have to make decisions about how to conduct normal operations.”

Rottinghaus said hospitalizations and deaths are the lagging indicators of a disease, so although the numbers of COVID-19 inpatients are stable at this time, the future remains uncertain.

He said the hospital's goal is to try to protect the vulnerable while still being available to everyday needs.

Although local health officials are concerned, they are also hopeful, knowing that the public is already aware of the virus and its capabilities and the measures that need to be taken to reduce the spread.

“We're going to be OK,” Rottinghaus said. “We can prevent a lot of illness and a lot of spread by doing those things as a community and as a region.”