On Thursday (April 30, 2020), the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center announced it was ending its pandemic protocol and returning to normal services.

The decision was made for a couple of reasons.

First, according to the hospital’s chairman, Dr. Donald Yealy, the death rates for the virus are much lower than the 2% to 4% the pandemic models predicted. A modeller out of England’s Imperial College initially predicted 2.2 million deaths in the US alone.

Based on antibody testing in various parts of the US, it is apparent more people have the virus than originally thought, and he suspects the death rate for the virus in Allegheny County is only .25%. He added that many of those who catch the virus don’t even get sick.

Secondly, Yealy said the decision was also made on the number of deaths from COVID-19 in the Pittsburgh region. He said on Penn Live, most of the COVID-19 deaths “involved people over 80, with many being nursing home residents.”

READ: UPMC Official Claims Coronavirus Not Nearly As Deadly As Reported, Hospital Shifting Back To Normal