ICU Bed Availability In Eastern PA: See Your County's Data

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The number of available intensive care hospital beds in Philadelphia was down to 10 percent on Friday, according to state data.

The news comes as the continued surge of coronavirus cases in the state threatens to overwhelm hospitals and forces them to begin turning away patients seeking elective surgeries and other care.

Throughout the rest of southeast Pennsylvania, counties were reporting mixed results concerning hospital bed availability. While the state has not mandated it, some hospitals have begun postponing elective surgeries and other procedures to help handle the coronavirus surge.

Bucks and Northampton counties saw a decrease in the number of available adult ICU beds over the past week, while other counties in the area reported slight increases or no change.

Statewide, 13.7 percent of adult ICU beds remained available Friday, according Pennsylvania Department of Health data. A total of 5,877 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Pennsylvania on Friday, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. Of those, 1,218 were in intensive care and 675 were on ventilators, the state reported.

In Philadelphia County, there were 71 adult ICU beds (10.3%) still open Friday. That's down from the 132 available beds reported this time last week.

Overall hospital bed availability is running low, but not yet desperate, according to state data for Pennsylvania's Southeast Regional Healthcare Coalition, which includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

On Friday, the state was reporting 16.8 percent of the region's hospital beds were still available. The state considers 10 percent a critical point, where it may require hospitals to start postponing elective surgeries and other procedures

Pennsylvania broke its single-day record for coronavirus deaths this week, with state health officials announcing 248 deaths on Thursday.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday announced several temporary coronavirus mitigation measures, including closing indoor dining and gyms, limiting gatherings and suspending youth sports. The measures are aimed to slow the spread of the coronavirus in high-risk settings, officials said.

Here is a look at the percentage of adult intensive care hospital beds that remained available Friday in the counties in the Philadelphia region, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health COVID-19 data portal. Week-over-week changes are presented as percentages of total ICU beds:

Lehigh: 3.2% (up .5%) 6 beds
Northampton: 5% (down 10%) 1 bed
Philadelphia: 10.3% (down 6.7%) 71 beds
Delaware: 8.4% (no change) 8 beds
Lancaster: 15.9% (up 6%) 13 beds
Montgomery: 16.9% (up 2.9%) 58 beds
Berks: 22.5% (up 8.4%) 16 beds
Bucks: 18.2% (down 6.5%), 14 beds
Chester: 37.5% (up 5.6%) 36 beds

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