Morristown Medical Confident In Bed Capacity If COVID Surges More
MORRISTOWN, NJ — State officials say that coronavirus cases could continue surging through the holidays, and that could mean bad news for the strain on hospitals. But Morristown Medical Center feels confident it won't overflow.
For the first time last week, the Department of Health and Human Services released hospitalization data down to the facility level. HHS's most recently published data reflects the week of Nov. 20-26.
The data indicated that 71 percent of beds in Morristown Medical's intensive care unit were occupied, while 75 percent of inpatient beds were in use.
Coronavirus patients occupied 15 percent of the hospital's inpatient beds that week. Experts told NPR anything above 10 percent is concerning, but exceeding 20 percent represents "extreme stress" for the hospital.
But Morristown Medical Center said it's prepared to care for every patient in need, even with potential surges in the coming months. The facility didn't provide updated totals, but a hospital spokesperson told Patch the following:
"Atlantic Health System remains ready and able to care for the health of every patient who needs us, along with their families, our team members and the community at-large.
"While we are caring for increased numbers of COVID-19 patients in comparison to the summer, it is important to note that these figures are nowhere near the number of cases we cared for during the spring months. That said, it’s important for everyone to continue to do their part in fighting the spread of the virus, which includes mask wearing, hand hygiene and social distancing.
"Throughout this pandemic Atlantic Health System has continued to prepare and increase its capacity to deliver care, including standing up new facilities, growing the size of our team and using advanced data modeling to stay one step ahead of the virus. Now that we are on the verge of having an effective and safe vaccine to administer, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel."
Additionally, Atlantic Health Systems announced Thursday it would suspend visitation at all its hospitals, including Morristown Medical Center.
The New Jersey Department of Health reported 6,247 news cases Saturday in New Jersey, along with 4,170 cases Sunday. Saturday's figure represents New Jersey's highest daily total since the pandemic began.
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Gov. Phil Murphy warned last week that the Garden State could see upwards of 12,000 daily cases by early next year, and hospitalizations could spike to their highest levels since spring if the state doesn't get the virus under control.
Murphy said newly developed predictive models cite worst-case scenarios that could force him to impose additional coronavirus restrictions.
"Protecting the ability of our healthcare system to treat the ill is our paramount concern," Murphy said. Read more: Gov. Murphy Now Says NJ Daily COVID Cases Could Double To 12K
With reporting from Anthony Bellano/Patch
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This article originally appeared on the Morristown Patch
