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The onslaught came all at once.

One day, the coronavirus patient load was just as low it had been all summer.

Then in mid-October, as the leaves began to change, days at work abruptly shifted.

“It was all of a sudden,” said Dave Whipkey, paramedic and logistics director at Mutual Aid. “Now we’re starting to see another giant uptick after the holiday of people not listening.”

Last Saturday, Mutual Aid fielded 55 calls for coronavirus patients, said dispatch supervisor Kristy Slate. They had been averaging about 22 a day. In a six-hour period Thursday morning, 11 virus patients needed to be transported, she said.

And it’s only getting worse.

“The number of covid trips is just incredible,” Slate said.

It’s never been like this in her 28 years with the Greensburg-based ambulance service. Some EMS agencies across Westmoreland County are seeing an increased number of calls — half of their total volume or more — for coronavirus patients, whether it be an emergency or scheduled transport to an appointment. That means a lot of extra time is needed to decontaminate ambulances between calls, putting crews out of service for longer and adding to their stress levels.

Westmoreland has seen rising levels of hospitalized coronavirus patients — a 185% increase since Nov. 1, according to state data. On Saturday, 131 virus patients were hospitalized in the county. Oftentimes, it’s the ambulance workers who are the first to come into contact with those patients before taking them to the hospital.

A few ambulance services reported seeing a decrease in total calls in the spring when the pandemic arrived locally, followed by numbers that bounced back to normal over the summer. But it’s been only an uptick since mid-October. Shane Spielvogle, director of North Huntingdon EMS/Rescue, said about 60% of ambulance calls now are for either confirmed or suspected coronavirus patients in the township.

Mutual Aid, which operates 17 stations that covers most of Westmoreland and a small part of Fayette, is seeing a similar level, said Lorenzo Garino, director of emergency operations. Calls are up to about 6,000 a month, up from 5,000 normally. North Huntingdon also is answering more calls.

The increase is impacting the time needed for each call at both ambulance services as well as the amount of protective equipment they are going through.

“The vehicle and the staff are decontaminating even more so now,” Spielvogle said. “We’re doing a much more high-level cleaning.”

About 22% of calls made to Westmoreland 911 so far in December have screened positive for the virus, and that number is rising daily, according to department of public safety spokeswoman Cassandra Kovatch. Dispatchers ask callers whether they have tested positive or someone else in their household is quarantining because of a possible exposure. A “yes” answer to either means that call is considered positive for the virus, with that information getting passed on to emergency workers being sent to the home.

“The increase in these positive screened covid calls are a direct correlation to the increase of community spread we are seeing within our county,” Kovatch said. “We have all witnessed the rapid spread of the virus throughout the past few weeks.”

At Allegheny County emergency services, calls to 911 that have been labeled as possibly virus-related jumped significantly from October to November, according to Chief Matt Brown. In September, about 37% of calls screened as possibly virus-related compared to nearly 68% in November. As of Thursday, there had been 1,466 potentially virus-related calls made to 911 so far in December. That was 100 fewer than the volume that screened as possibly virus-related in all of September, he said. The department sees an average of 4,000 to 4,500 calls each month.

The increased contact with virus patients could make for staffing issues if employees contract it, said Jeannette EMS director Randy Highlands. Ambulance workers typically are employed by more than one company, which could affect multiple schedules in the event of a positive virus test. He hopes medics and EMTs can get vaccinated before that comes to fruition.

It’s all taking an emotional and physical toll on crews, Spielvogle said.

There have been times when Slate, the dispatch supervisor, has looked out into the Greensburg station’s ambulance garage and to see coworkers with their heads in their hands after calls. The medics often are going back to the same addresses to transport members of the same family.

Slate said she tries to rotate virus patients with scheduled transports among crews in an effort to not wear anyone out. Whipkey, the paramedic, hopes people will take heed of the increasing impact the virus is taking on the health care system.

“Something so simple, just wearing a mask,” he said.

For Mutual Aid EMT Megan Stunja, the workload has been tough, but she tries to stay optimistic. She leans on coworkers as an outlet for venting and coping with what they are seeing and the unknown length of time it will continue.

“It’s definitely intimidating to be working through a pandemic,” she said. “Once we’re out of this, I’ll be able to say I worked through a pandemic as a health care provider.”

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta by email at rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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