With COVID Rising, How Are Hospital Capacities Near Parsippany?

Josh Bakan
·2 min read

PARSIPPANY, NJ — The recent spike in COVID-19 cases has put New Jersey hospitals under some strain. The state reported 1,526 hospital patients with confirmed or suspected cases — its highest figure since April 30.

Here's how hospitals in the Parsippany area fared the week of Nov. 18 — the most recent period of available data from the Department of Health and Human Services:

  • Morristown Medical Center: 22.96 percent of inpatient beds available, 26.74 percent of ICU beds available

  • Saint Clare's Denville Hospital: 62.03 percent of inpatient beds available, 71.79 percent of ICU beds available

  • Kindred Hospital New Jersey - Morris County (Dover): data for hospital-bed usage unavailable

  • Overlook Medical Center (Summit): 38.16 percent of inpatient beds available, 31.48 percent of ICU beds available

  • Saint Barnabas Medical Center (Livingston): 5.18 percent of inpatient beds available, 50 percent of ICU beds available

The ratio of COVID-19 hospitalizations to total beds provides insight into how much strain a hospital is under. The ratio becomes concerning when it rises higher than 10 percent and represents "extreme stress" above 20 percent, hospital-capacity experts told NPR.

None of the aforementioned hospitals exceeded the 10 percent threshold the week of Nov. 26 to Dec. 2, according to NPR. Here's the current bed-use data for COVID-19 patients at local hospitals:

  • Morristown Medical Center: 4 percent of inpatient beds in use for COVID-19 patients

  • Saint Clare's Denville Hospital: 3 percent of inpatient beds in use for COVID-19 patients

  • Kindred Hospital New Jersey - Morris County (Dover): data unavailable

  • Overlook Medical Center (Summit): 4 percent of inpatient beds in use for COVID-19 patients

  • Saint Barnabas Medical Center (Livingston): 4 percent

Morris County, like New Jersey as a whole, has recently seen a spike in coronavirus cases. The New Jersey Department of Health tallied 1,718 infections in Morris County this past week. The county had 361 new cases in that timeframe a month ago.

Despite the recent increase in hospitalizations, New Jersey has made progress compared to this time a year ago, when the state reported 3,572 COVID inpatients.

Thanks for reading. Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter and follow the Parsippany Patch Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on the Parsippany Patch