2 Secaucus Residents Die; Town Hospital 'Desperate' For Nurses

SECAUCUS, NJ — As of Sunday, the Secaucus coronavirus count is at 148 positive cases and two deaths related to covid-19, according to Mayor Mike Gonnelli. While the identity of those who died will remain private, both were elderly and had a number of compromising health issues, said the mayor.

However, the actual number of Secaucus residents infected with the virus is "much, much" higher than 148, said Gonnelli, as there is a large number of people with symptoms who were tested and are waiting to get their test results back. Also, don't forget to count asymptomatic people who may be carriers of the virus, he added.

Meanwhile, conditions are extremely dire at Secaucus' local hospital, Hudson Regional: The hospital reports that it has had 15 deaths since last Monday, March 30 and is currently on a schedule of intubating up to five patients a day.

The hospital released those numbers Friday, and Mayor Gonnelli said Sunday he expected the death count went up over the weekend.

There are 3,924 positive cases in Hudson County, and 87 deaths so far, according to the state's new coronavirus dashboard. Densely populated Bergen, Hudson and Essex counties have the most cases in the state of New Jersey.

The Secaucus town hospital is also facing a severe nursing shortage.

Hudson Regional set up a second ICU and ER, but the hospital said Friday they simply do not have enough staff to care for the 70 current admitted patients, or the additional patients that are expected to come in throughout April.

In a conference call with reporters Friday, the top doctor and CEO at Hudson Regional, Dr. Nizar Kifaieh, said his facility has been searching for everyone from elementary school nurses to nursing students to paid positions, but is coming up short.

“We’re completely short-staffed on the nursing side,” Dr. Kifaieh told NJ.com. “We’re in desperate need. If anyone out there is interested in helping us, please let us know. We are completely getting run down by covid patients. Every single patient in the ICU is on a ventilator and is a covid patient.”

"We're at war," he added.

Any interested volunteers with nursing backgrounds can call Hudson Regional Hospital at (201) 392-3100. Hudson Regional is hiring nurses and asking for non-medical volunteers for the call center and other administrative work.

Dr. Kifaieh said the state has been "very helpful" in working with the Secaucus hospital, and last week provided extra ventilators. However, he suggested that less severe covid-19 patients be set up at the Secaucus pop-up hospital at the Meadowlands Expo Center, which was originally established for non-coronavirus cases. Take a virtual tour of what it's like inside: Behind The Scenes At NJ's First Pop-Up Hospital, In Secaucus

“This disease progresses very quickly and the number of patients with the virus or symptoms continues to strain our resources," said Dr. Kifaieh Friday in the conference call with reporters."It would be a tremendous help if the Meadowlands Expo Center floating hospital could take in patients with less severe covid-19 symptoms so that our staff could direct all our resource to covid-19 patients in critical condition."

That is a 250-bed field hospital located at the Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus; it is scheduled to open Monday, April 6.

Meanwhile, Mayor Gonnelli offered to use any of Secaucus' 19 hotels to house the U.S. Army and FEMA, which are in town, plus doctors, nurses and patient families.

“Secaucus residents are doing their part by staying home, and our 19 hotels are on stand-by to provide housing for military, volunteer doctors and nurses, and family of patients,” said Gonnelli.

In one bit of good news, Hudson Regional was one of the first places in the state of New Jersey to offer testing for coronavirus, and it became Hudson County's official test site. Nearly 2,200 Hudson County residents, emergency workers and first responders were tested in the first two weeks of the hospital’s drive-through testing site, and 58 percent of those individuals who have gotten their test results back were positive.

The collaboration between the hospital, Hudson County and Secaucus is seeing a higher-than-state-average positive rate due to the program’s pre-screening requirement: If you want to be tested, you must first answer a very aggressive set of questions in order to indeed qualify.