57 Percent Positive Rate At Secaucus Coronavirus Test Site

SECAUCUS, NJ — As of last Friday, April 17, the Hudson Regional Hospital coronavirus testing site has tested 3,500 people in total, with a 57 percent positive rate for coronavirus.

This was released in a conference call hospital officials led Friday with reporters. The Secaucus hospital is the official coronavirus testing site for Hudson County, although private doctors offices and urgent care centers offer testing as well.

As of Friday morning, the hospital has tested about 3,500 people in total since opening in March, averaging about 1,200 people tested per week. Their positive rate is 57 percent, with 1,995 people testing positive for coronavirus, said hospital officials.

As testing continued Friday and Monday, April 20, numbers will have gone up since then. The Secaucus Walmart also temporarily closed Monday for a top-to-bottom, full-building cleaning and disinfecting, said Mayor Mike Gonnelli. It will re-open Tuesday.

The FEMA-run field hospital at the Meadowlands Expo Center is indeed housing coronavirus patients, but it is housing patients who have the least serious cases of COVID-19, said Mayor Gonnelli.

These are patients who do not need breathing support, and mostly need hydration and other medicines. The most serious cases — mostly patients who need breathing help and patients on ventilators — are all at Hudson Regional Hospital, which has about 70 patients in-house total. The top doctor at Hudson Regional said Friday that although conditions are still serious, they are not as dire as they were two weeks ago, when the hospital had "ten patients dying every 24 hours." Lately, they are reporting one COVID-19 death a day.

With 70 patients, the Secaucus hospital is not at capacity; it has the space and extra beds for 130 patients total, if necessary.

The Marriott hotel in Secaucus is housing medical workers who have contracted coronavirus and need to isolate in individual hotel rooms. As of Friday, the Marriott was housing about 20 sick healthcare workers, said Gonnelli.

Embassy Suites in Secaucus is housing all other out-of-town healthcare workers who flew in to work at the field hospital, which is run by FEMA and the state.

It was Gonnelli who personally offered these two hotels to the federal and state government, saying the town of Secaucus wanted to help in any way it could.

Related: Top Doc At Secaucus Hospital: We're Seeing Much Fewer Deaths (April 17)

Behind The Scenes At NJ's First Pop-Up Hospital, In Secaucus (April 2)