Nearly All Montco Hospitals At Capacity, Patients Being Diverted

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Montgomery County hospitals are under siege by the coronavirus, County Commissioner Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said on Wednesday. In a news conference, Arkoosh said “almost every hospital is at capacity” with only two in the county that are not yet at capacity but still "quite full."

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, she said. Further, when hospitals reach capacity, they "go on divert," meaning they tell EMS workers to stop sending patients in.

"The majority have had to divert patients from ERs over the last several days. Some are canceling scheduled surgeries to create more staffed beds," Arkoosh said. "Understand that when a hospital is on divert, that means when you call 911, no matter your emergency, you might not be taken to the closest emergency room."

In addition to higher numbers of sick people, hospitals in the county have also been impacted by cases of the virus among staff members.

"In order for a patient to occupy a hospital bed, there must be a bed. But, there also must be doctors and nurses," Arkoosh said. "Our Montgomery County hospitals are facing critical limits in terms of their staff and are impacted by staff who have been exposed or infected in the community."

Arkoosh declined to identify which hospitals have reached capacity or reported having sick doctors and nurses.

The number of hospitalized patients in the county has risen by 92 from last Tuesday, up to a total of 362, Arkoosh said. Of those patients, 43 were on a ventilator as of Wednesday afternoon.

The total number of cases in the county are also on the rise, the commissioner said.

On Tuesday, the county announced 392 new positive cases from Tuesday's tally, bringing the county's total case count to 21,388. Of the new cases, 11 are from long term care facilities, 7 were newly-committed inmates in the county jail, three were from Norristown State Hospital, six were from other congregate settings and 365 were from the community.

The county's 14-day positivity rate as of Friday was 7.95 percent, Arkoosh said.

But not every new case announced on Wednesday was identified in the prior 24 hours. Arkoosh said 281 positive test results were from tests performed in the last week. Another 100 are from up to two weeks ago, and 10 tests were performed over two weeks ago.

The number, she said, "does not entirely represent recent testing," meaning cases contracted during Thanksgiving gatherings might not show up for another week or two.

Two additional COVID-19 deaths were also announced on Wednesday, bringing the county's total to 878. Arkoosh said those who died were 89 and 97 years old.

As it stands, 461 women and 417 men have died from the coronavirus in the county. Those people ranged in age from 34 to 104 years old.

Schools in Montgomery County will be permitted to reopen to in-person learning on Monday, much to the relief of some parents. But, Arkoosh urged, coronavirus safety and hygiene practices must continue in order for schools to stay up and running.

Read more: Montco Schools Can Reopen Monday, Officials Say

Arkoosh issued a simple plea to the community as it faced another dangerous surge in the virus: "we are all in this together."

"The decisions that each person makes regarding personal conduct — whether or not they wear a mask, whether or not they attend a social gathering, whether or not they answer a phone when a contact tracer calls — impact all of us," she said. "The choices that each of us makes over the next several weeks will have direct impacts on our hospitals and our schools."

You can watch the news conference in full using the video player below:

A previous version incorrectly stated 43 percent of hospitalized patients were on ventilators. As it stands, a total of 43 patients were on a ventilator as of writing. The story has been corrected.