'Stay Home,' PA Officials Beg As Counties Run Short On ICU Beds

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania state health officials on Thursday said there is a concerning hospital surge happening across the state due to the coronavirus pandemic and that it is impacting the number of available ICU beds as well as prompting staffing shortages. As a result, Health Secretary Rachel Levine implored residents to follow mitigation measures and stay home whenever possible.

"If you do not have to go out to the grocery store or the pharmacy, please stay home," Levine said. "By staying home, within your household, you can help us avoid that scenario where we could potentially run out of beds."

As of Thursday morning, just under 5,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Pennsylvania. More than 1,000 of those patients were in the ICU. Levine said "a number" of counties have only a few ICU beds left. Some have no ICU beds left, she said.

"We are certainly not through this yet. We can not return to life as normal right now," Levine said. "Everyone is impacted by COVID-19. Everyone."

As of Thursday morning, just over 16 percent of the state's ICU beds remain available, the state data dashboard shows.

RELATED: ICU Bed Availability In Eastern PA: See Data By County

The state is carefully monitoring the data to avoid a scenario in which there is a widespread shortage of ICU beds and, notably, ICU staff.

"We don't want people to avoid hospital care if they need it," Levine said, noting this requires hospitals to carefully manage the prevalance of elective admissions.

As part of an order established in November, hospitals will be required to reduce the number of elective procedures if certain triggers related to capacity and staffing shortages are met. Two regions, the Southwest and Keystone regions, have met the staffing trigger, Levine said Thursday.

On Wednesday, local officials in Montgomery Counted sounded an alarm bell regarding the state of hospital capacity.

Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said in a news conference that "almost every hospital is at capacity" and patients are being diverted.

RELATED: Nearly All Montco Hospitals At Capacity, Patients Being Diverted

A hospital is at capacity when it no longer has enough regular or ICU rooms to which to send emergency room patients, meaning emergency rooms are being used to treat everyday patients, Arkoosh said. Further, when hospitals reach capacity, they "go on divert," meaning they tell EMS workers to stop sending in patients.

In Delaware County, hospitals have been forced to divert patients as well.

"There is an alarming high spike in COVID-19 cases across the county, and even more alarming is the ways in which our county is being impacted," Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek said in November.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has repeatedly warned that the state could run out of beds by early this month.

"As our hospitals and health care system are facing greater strain, we need to redouble our efforts to keep people safe," Wolf said. "If our health care system is compromised, it isn't only COVID-19 patients who will suffer. If we run out of hospital beds, or if hospital staff are overworked to the breaking point, care will suffer for every patient — including those who need emergency care for illnesses, accidents, or chronic conditions unrelated to COVID-19."

As a result, in late November, Pennsylvania officials issued a series of new mitigation measures aimed to slow the spread of the virus.

Watch Thursday's news conference here: