Hospitals near capacity in COVID surge
NORRISTOWN » Hospitalizations continue to increase during to the current surge of the coronavirus in Montgomery County and many hospitals are reaching capacity, according to officials.
“Most hospitals in Montgomery County are at or near capacity. The majority have had to divert patients from their emergency rooms during the last several days for some period of time and some are beginning to cancel scheduled surgeries in order to create more staffed beds for COVID-19 patients,” county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said during a weekly news briefing Wednesday.
“The majority of our hospitals have had to care for patients in the emergency departments for substantial periods of time because there were no other staffed beds available in the hospital.”
There are nine hospitals in the county.
“Almost every hospital is at capacity. There are two that aren’t but the remainder are quite full and have had to, at least for some period of time, go on divert over the last four to five day period,” Arkoosh said.
When a hospital is on so-called “divert,” it means if a person calls 911, no matter what their medical emergency, they may not be able to be taken to the closest emergency room. Going on “divert” sends a message to emergency medical responders about a hospital’s ability to accept patients.
“That is usually triggered by the emergency room being full. But the reason the emergency rooms are full is because they cannot move patients out of the emergency room to either a regular medical bed or an ICU bed because those beds are full,” Arkoosh explained.
“As a reminder, both hospitalizations and deaths do lag behind cases. So we assume that we have not yet seen the peak in hospitalizations or deaths with this surge.” — Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Valerie Arkoosh
The county’s hospitals also are facing critical limits in terms of staff, officials added.
“They have all been impacted by staff who’ve been exposed or infected in the community due to the substantial amount of virus circulating right now,” Arkoosh said.
Unlike in the spring when many parts of the country were unaffected by COVID-19 and they could send medical personnel to assist other areas, there are no spare hospital staff members available currently, “as the entire country is experiencing this surge,” Arkoosh pointed out.
“Our hospitalizations continue to increase,” said Arkoosh, who as a physician has been at the forefront of the county’s efforts to combat COVID-19 and provide citizens with the latest information regarding the outbreak. “It’s something I’m deeply concerned about and why we continue to ask the community to take all the appropriate precautions. People really need to take this seriously.”
On Wednesday, 362 individuals with COVID-19 were in county hospitals, which represented an increase of 92 individuals since Nov. 24. Twelve-percent of the hospitalized individuals require a ventilator, officials said.
At the height of the pandemic in April there were about 400 hospitalized CO
VID-19 patients.
“As a reminder, both hospitalizations and deaths do lag behind cases. So we assume that we have not yet seen the peak in hospitalizations or deaths with this surge,” Arkoosh said.
The overall 14-day COVID-19 positivity rate for the county, as of Nov. 27, was 7.95% which was a slight decrease from the 8.17% for the 14-day period ending Nov. 19, according to county statistics.
Health officials believe having a positivity rate less than 5% indicates the county is controlling the spread of the virus and keeping it suppressed.
On Wednesday, officials reported 392 new positive cases of the virus, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 21,388 since March 7, when the first two cases of the virus were identified in the county. Eleven of the new cases were individuals who resided in long-term care facilities, seven individuals were new commitments at the county jail and three individuals were residents of Norristown State Hospital.
The new positive individuals included 181 males and 211 females who ranged in age from 1 to 94 and resided in 54 municipalities.
Officials also reported two more deaths from the v ir us on Wednesday, bringing the county’s death toll to 878 since the pandemic began in March. The two residents who died were aged 89 and 97 and one died in a longterm care facility and one died at home.
Since March, a total of
461 females and 417 males, who ranged in age from 34 to 104, have died from the virus in the county.
To f latten the current surge of COVID-19 cases in the county and to keep the positivity rate below 5%, Arkoosh urged residents to wear a mask, to avoid social gatherings, to abide by handwashing recommendations, to fully cooperate if they receive a call from a contact tracer, and to download the free COVID Alert PA app onto their phone.
COVID Alert PA is a free mobile app, offered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, that uses Bluetooth low energy technology and the Exposure Notification System, created jointly by Google and Apple, to notify and give public health guidance to anyone who may have been in close contact with a person who also has the app and has tested positive for COVID-19.
“We remain in a serious and rapidly evolving situation. As we continue to navigate this very challenging situation, I want to remind everyone that we are all in this together. The decisions that each person makes regarding their personal conduct…impact all of us,” said Arkoosh, who was joined at the weekly news briefing by fellow Commissioner Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr.
“If you are able to work from home, please do so. Do not carpool unless you drive with the windows open and every person in the car has a mask on for the entire drive. Please limit your nonessential trips and travel,” Arkoosh added.
More people in the county do appear to be taking advantage of testing opportunities for the virus. Officials reported that for the 14-day period ending Nov. 27, there were 54,746 county residents who obtained tests for COVID-19, which was an increase of 3,610 people tested compared with the 14-day period end
ing Nov. 19. Officials said more testing provides the county the opportunity to do more surveillance and learn how the virus is circulating in the county and suppress any outbreak that may surface.
Testing is available for all county residents and those who work in the county and want or need to be tested. The county has established outdoor walkup testing sites in Pottstown, Norristown, Lansdale, Willow Grove, Ardmore and Green Lane to accommodate those who want to be tested.
The county-run sites provide self-administered tests at no cost, although insurance will be billed if you have it. The sites do require an appointment for testing.
Starting this week, the county expanded the operating hours at each of the six testing sites to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Appointments can be made weekdays starting at 7 a.m. by visiting www.montcopa.org/COVID-19 and clicking on the county testing information button. Residents can also register for a test at any of the six sites by calling 610970-2937 beginning at 8:30 a.m. daily.
“It should be much, much easier now to get an appointment,” Arkoosh said.
In Pottstown, the testing site is located at the county’s Office of Public Health Pottstown Health Center at 364 King St. In Norristown, a testing site is located on the parking lot of the Delaware Valley Community Health Norristown Regional Health Center at 1401 DeKalb St.
In Lansdale, a testing site is located at 421 Main St. Another testing site is located at Deep Creek and Snyder roads in the Green Lane Park area.
In Ardmore, a testing site is located at 114 W. Lancaster Avenue and in Willow Grove, a testing site is at First Baptist Church - Crestmont, 1678 Fairview Ave.